President Bashar al-Assad scotched any suggestion he might flee Syria and warned that any Western military intervention to topple him would have catastrophic consequences for the Middle East and beyond, Reuters said.

Speaking in an interview with Russia Today (RT) television to be broadcast on Friday, November 9 Assad said he did not see the West embarking on a military intervention in Syria and said the cost of such action would be unbearable.

"I think that the cost of a foreign invasion of Syria - if it happens - would be bigger than the entire world can bear ... This will have a domino effect that will affect the world from the Atlantic to the Pacific," he said.

"I do not believe the West is heading in this direction, but if they do, nobody can tell what will happen afterwards," he added. The remarks were published in Arabic on Russia Today's web site. It was not clear when Assad gave the interview.

Assad's defiant remarks coincided with a landmark meeting in Qatar on Thursday of Syria's fractious opposition to hammer out an agreement on a new umbrella body uniting rebel groups inside and outside Syria amid growing international pressure to put their house in order and prepare for a post-Assad transition.

The United States and other Western powers have grown increasingly frustrated with the opposition over divisions and in-fighting which have undermined the chances of ousting Assad.

Backed by Washington, the Doha talks underline Qatar's central role in the effort to end Assad's rule as the Gulf state, which funded the Libyan revolt to oust Muammar Gaddafi, tries to position itself as a player in a post-Assad Syria.

"I am tougher than Gaddafi," Assad told his interviewer, according to a tweet posted by the editor-in-chief of the station.