Syria: Assad says 'only a crazy person' would order mass killings

Damascus, 7 Dec. (AKI) - President Bashar al-Assad denied ordering the violence that has killed thousands of Syrians over nine months, saying only a mentally unstable person could do such a thing.

"We don't kill our people… no government in the world kills its people, unless it's led by a crazy person," Assad said in an interview the America's ABC News in Damascus with celebrated journalist Barbara Walters aired late Tuesday.

The United Nations says the Syrian government's forces have killed more than 4,000 people since the beginning of an ant-government uprising in March. Assad's government has consistently countered by blaming the violence on armed gangs and terrorists.

"Who said that the United Nations is a credible institution?", Assad said in the interview. "Most of the people that have been killed are supporters of the government, not the vice versa," he said. The dead includes 1,100 soldiers and police, he said.

Some individuals belonging to the military overstepped their role and was punished, according to Assad.

"Every 'brute reaction' was by an individual, not by an institution, that's what you have to know," he said. "There is a difference between having a policy to crackdown and between having some mistakes committed by some officials. There is a big difference," he said.