Assad regrets downing plane

Assad went on to say in the interview, published Tuesday, that he would not allow tensions between Syrian and Turkey to escalate into war.

"We learned that it (the plane) belonged to Turkey after shooting it down," Assad told the Cumhuriyet paper. "I say 100 percent 'if only we had not shot it down.'"

He added that "open combat" between the two countries would "harm them both."

Despite accusations from Turkey that Syria had deliberately shot down its plane, Assad said Syrian forces had thought the plane may have belonged to Israel.

"A country at war always acts like this," he said. "This plane was flying at a very low altitude and was shot down by anti-aircraft defences which mistook it for an Israeli plane, which attacked Syria in 2007."

Turkey claims the plane was shot down in international airspace, which Syria also disputes.

Cairo talks enter second day

While Assad's interview may be aimed at easing tensions between Damascus and Ankara, Syria remains on the brink of all-out civil war.

On Monday, the Arab League called on Syrian opposition groups, who were gathered for talks in Cairo, to band together to form a credible alternative to Assad's regime of. The talks continue on Tuesday.

Observers say the lack of a united opposition has made it easier for Assad to cling to power and made it more difficult for opposition forces to win effective foreign support.

"It is not acceptable to waste this opportunity in any way. The sacrifices of the Syrian people are bigger than us all and more precious than any differences or individual and party interests," Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby told the approximately 250 Syrian opposition activists who were in attendance.

The Cairo talks follow an international conference in Geneva over the weekend in which world powers reaffirmed their support for Kofi Annan's transition plan. The Annan plan calls for the formation of an interim government in Syria in a bid to end more than a year of fighting, which - according to UN estimates - has killed more than 10,000 people.

Reports of systemic Syrian torture

Meanwhile, in a report released Tuesday, the New-York based Human Rights Watch issued a report that said Syria had made it a policy to torture civilians. The group said Syria's actions constituted a crime against humanity that should be brought before the International Criminal Court.

"The (Syrian) intelligence agencies are running an archipelago of torture centres scattered across the country," said Ole Solvang, a researcher at Human Rights Watch.

All told, Human Rights Watch says there are 27 torture facilities across Syria. The report was based on interviews, mostly with former detainees, who had either been tortured or witnessed the torture of others. The interviews indicated that beatings, extended periods of painful positions, electric shocks, acid burns, and sexual assault and humiliation were used to torture detainees at the facilities.

mz,pfd/ipj (AFP, Reuters, dpa)