DAMASCUS, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said he "succeeded to withstand" the nearly four-year-old crisis in Syria thanks for the popular support he enjoys in Syria.

The popular support enabled him to succeed to withstand the prolonged conflict although the Western and regional countries had also rendered support to the armed rebels in Syria, Assad said in an interview with the Portuguese State Television RTP, which was aired Wednesday evening and published by Syrian media outlets on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the president said that "Syria is not a failed state," pointing out that the salaries are still being paid to the state employees even in some of the rebel-held areas.

The Syrians are determined to move on in fighting terrorism and supporting their state, the president added.

Assad also mentioned that the number of Syrian causalities in the crisis circulated by Western media is exaggerated, renewing his accusation to Western powers of supporting the terrorism in Syria.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the death toll after nearly four years of crisis has risen to 210,000, nearly half of them civilians.