BEIRUT (AP) — In a statement to the army, President Bashar Assad urged his armed forces to step up the fight against rebels as a 17- month-old uprising continues to rage across the country.

Assad has not spoken publicly since a bombing killed four of his top security aides two weeks ago. Today’s written statement was carried by the state-run news agency.

“In the war in which the country is embroiled and the battle against criminal and terrorist gangs, the army has proven its mettle,” he said, adding that the Syrian people have shown themselves not easily “tamed” by foreign plots.

Assad was speaking to the army on the 67th anniversary of its founding. He called it the “homeland’s shield” against foreign plots.