AFP EXCLUSIVE: Assad vows to retake Syria, amid new ceasefire push

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has vowed to retake the entire country but warned it could take a "long time," in an exclusive interview with AFP as international pressure grows for a ceasefire. Speaking at his office in Damascus, hours before a new ceasefire plan was announced early Friday by world powers in Munich, Assad said he backed peace talks but that negotiations do "not mean that we stop fighting terrorism". Regime forces backed by Russian air strikes have registered major advances in