DAMASCUS, June 3: President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday dismissed allegations that his government had a hand in the Houla massacre and accused foreign-backed forces of plotting to destroy Syria.

On the ground troops clashed with rebels and at least seven people were reported killed nationwide, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Politically, the European Union and the United States joined forces in a coordinated move to pile pressure on Syrian ally Russia to change its stance on Damascus, but President Vladimir Putin refused to budge.

In a more than hour-long speech to parliament, Mr Assad said that even “monsters” were incapable of carrying out massacres such as last month’s killings near the town of Houla in central Syria.

His defiance came after Arab ministers urged the United Nations to act to stop the bloodshed in Syria, and France raised the prospect of military action against Damascus under a UN mandate.

“What happened in Houla and elsewhere are brutal massacres which even monsters would not have carried out,” Mr Assad said of the May 25 killing of 108 people, including 49 children.

“The masks have fallen and the international role in the Syrian events is now obvious,” he said in his first address to the assembly since a May 7 parliamentary election.

The polls were the perfect response “to the criminal killers and those who finance them,” Mr Assad said, stressing that his regime was determined to push through reforms but not at the expense of security.

“We are not facing a political problem but a project to destroy the country,” he said, adding there would be “no dialogue” with opposition groups which “seek foreign intervention”. An official of the exiled opposition Syrian National Council condemned the address.

“Assad’s speech was a declaration of the continuation of the bloody situation and the suppression of the revolution at any cost,” said Samir Nashar, a member of the SNC executive office.

Western push on Russia Mr Putin, meanwhile, fended off a coordinated western push to back further action on Syria as he hosted a private dinner for EU chiefs in Saint Petersburg.

“The only way out of the Syria crisis... involves a cessation of violence and consistent support for the plan of (mediator Kofi) Annan,” Russia’s foreign ministry quoted Mr Putin as saying.

“Russia will continue supporting this position and calls on other states to do the same.” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday she “made it very clear” to her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov at the weekend that the focus was shifting to a political transition in Syria.

“Assad’s departure does not have to be a precondition but it should be an outcome, so the people of Syria have a chance to express themselves,” she told reporters in Stockholm.

The European Union plans to deliver a similar message to Mr Putin during Monday's formal meetings that will include EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, diplomats said.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also urged Russia to drop its backing for the Assad regime and said in Singapore on Sunday that France “has not excluded military intervention” in Syria.

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, meanwhile, accused Mr Assad of “manoeuvring” to gain time, at a joint news conference with UN chief Ban Ki-moon in Jeddah.

“Every initiative has been accepted by the Syrian regime and was not implemented. This is a way used by the regime to gain time,” he said.

Mr Annan “will present his report in a few weeks... It must be clear, straightforward, precise and transparent,” Prince Saud said. “We hope the United Nations takes a firm stance.”

The UN chief described the situation in Syria as “troubling” and again urged Damascus to abide by the Annan plan, adding that “all violence must stop in all its forms.” On Saturday Arab ministers called for more UN action against the Syrian government.

Pro-democracy activists responding to Mr Assad’s speech called for anti-regime demonstrations on their Facebook page “Syrian Revolution 2011”. “Let’s all go, young and old, to meet the executioner, the murderer of children. Make yourself angry and intensify the anger in yourself and on the ground by all means.

“We will now go out in mass protests.” At least seven people were killed across Syria on Sunday where clashes raged between troops and armed rebels, the Syrian Observatory said.

Fighting was reported in Damascus province, the northwestern province of Idlib and near the northern city of Aleppo, it said.—AFP