BEIRUT — Syrian President Bashar Assad vowed to “live and die” in Syria, saying in an interview broadcast today that he will never flee his country despite the bloody, 19-month-old uprising against him.

The broadcast came two days after British Prime Minister David Cameron suggested that Assad could be allowed safe passage out of the country if that would guarantee an end to the nation’s civil war, which activists estimate has killed more than 36,000 people.

Assad struck a defiant tone in the interview with the English-language Russia Today TV,

“I am not a puppet, I was not made by the West for me to go to the West or any other country,” Assad, 47, said. He spoke in English and excerpts of the interview were posted on the TV station’s website with an Arabic voiceover.

Assad also warned against foreign military intervention.

“I don’t think the West is headed in this direction, but if it does, nobody can predict the consequences,” he told the station.

In the excerpts, the Syrian president is seen casually talking and later walking with RT’s reporter outside a house, wearing a gray suit and tie. It was not clear where the interview took place.

The uprising against Assad’s regime began as mostly peaceful protests in March last year but quickly morphed into a civil war. The fighting has taken on grim sectarian tones, with the predominantly Sunni rebels fighting government forces.

Assad’s regime is dominated by Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

On Wednesday, Britain called on the U.S. to do more to shape the Syrian opposition into a coherent force, saying the re-election of President Barack Obama is an opportunity for the world to take stronger action to end the deadlocked civil war.