In a rare interview given to the UK’s Sunday Telegraph, Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad warned of earthquakes, if the West were to intervene in its affairs.

As the deaths continue to mount and the pressure continues to ratchet up, Al Assad warned that if Syria was destabilised, the world would not only see the creation of a new ‘Afghanistan’, but tens of ‘Afghanistans’ as one country after another would descend into chaos.

Al –Assad also played a clever card, he preyed on the West’s fear of radical Islam, saying that Syria has been at war with the Muslim Brotherhood for the past 50 years and still is. He said that if his ruling party were to be brushed aside, then the Brotherhood would take over and fill the vacuum, leading to radical Islamist ascendancy.

Perhaps he is partially right. But the fact remains that Syria is using tanks to try and put down the protest. The Syrian Army still bombards people and its security forces still fire indiscriminately at crowds.

We do not get to see much of what is going on in the country. It is closed to the west and its media, but still, images and videos do get out and it is clear that the country is now moving towards armed conflict, rather than peaceful protests and gatherings.

It is abundantly clear that Syria cannot be a Libya. First of all, there is Israel on the doorstep and Israel likes things just the way they are. Although on the surface relations with Syria might seem frosty, the reality is that there is an understanding between the two. Israel sees secularity as a defence against radical Islam. In addition, Syria’s army is not the rag tag assembly that was the Gaddafi army. Syria has a professional and well equipped army, air force and navy. Moreover, they are firmly on the side of al-Assad. The third issue is that Nato would never intervene. Not only is it too costly, the potential for casualties is just too great. Bashar al-Assad has pledged reforms. He says he has already implemented some. But the fact of the matter remains that the regime is as brutal as ever. The President comes across as soft-spoken, secular and westernised. But the truth is that while he is no madman as Gaddafi was, he is cold and calculating. Thousands have died at his hands. His father was even more brutal, but the apple never falls far from the tree.