Syrian President Bashar Assad dug himself deeper in a hole Tuesday, stating in a “major” speech that the “people” are behind him and blaming a “foreign conspiracy” for the slaughter of protesters.

He told his country that “nobody is deceived anymore” by the alleged conspiracy, which he vowed will fail.

Echoing the cries of Hosni Mubarak before he was ousted and of Muammar Qaddafi before he was killed, Assad added, “When I leave this post, it will be also based upon the people’s wishes.”

Perhaps looking ahead at sharing the fate of Mubarak, who is being tried for murdering more than 800 protesters last year, Assad said there is overwhelming evidence to prove that the unrest is being fueled by the alleged foreign conspiracy.

Thousands of Syrians have been murdered, and thousands more tortured and arrested, in the 10-month uprising. Videos have shown the Syrian army and plain clothes secret police gunning down demonstrators. Assad said he never gave orders to fire on civilians.

Foreign media have been largely banned from the country since the unrest began, but he nevertheless blamed the media, presumably foreign outlets, of trying to collapse his regime.

Syria has verbally agreed to an Arab League proposal to withdraw tanks from cities and to stop the slaughter, which it ascribes to terrorists, but even as the League’s observers travel throughout the country under close supervision, the daily killing continues.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday that at least four people were killed in the area of Homs, a hotbed of anti-Assad demonstrations.