FILE – In this Oct. 21, 2010 file photo, Syrian President Bashar Assad smiles as he shakes hands with Venesuela’s President Hugo Chafez, not seen, at the Syrian presidential palace, in Damascus, Syria. Assad said in an interview with Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper published Sunday Nov. 20, 2011 that Syria will not bow and will continue to resist the pressures being imposed on it. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, file)