Syrian President Bashar Assad said the chances of a regional war were "increasing," in comments published by several official media outlets Sunday.
"The real peace spectrum in the region is moving away and the prospects of war and confrontation are increasing," Assad said on the 65th anniversary of the establishment of the country's military.
"Syria reiterates its willingness (for a) just peace," he said, adding that the "first factor of peace is preserving dignity, sovereignty and not abandoning any bit of soil or drop of water."
Assad also said Damascus would not drop its claim over the Golan Heights, a swath of land which was occupied by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Assad's comments were billed as a speech to the military and were published by, among others, the magazine The People's Army.

Iran: We will torch Tel Aviv

Syria was not the only country to warn of conflict over the weekend, with Iran's delgate to the United Nations warning that his country would burn Tel Aviv if attacked by Israel.
"If the Zionist regime commits the slightest aggression against the Iranian soil, we will set the entire war front and Tel Aviv on fire," Mohammad Khazai told the Farhang-e Ashti daily, according to a report by the AFP news agency.
Israel has not ruled out an attack on Iran's nuclear installations, which it says are aimed at building a bomb - a charge Iran denies.