EDITOR'S NOTE: CONTAINS AMATEUR VIDEO THAT CANNOT BE INDEPENDENTLY VERIFIED BY REUTERS - VIDEO HAS BEEN OBTAINED FROM A SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITE<br/> <br />Delivering a speech directed at his new government on state television, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his country was in "a real state of war" on Tuesday.<br/> <br />SOUNDBITE Syrian President Bashar al-Assad<br/> <br />"We are living in a state of real war from all angles. When we live in such a situation, all policies and all sides and all sectors need to be directed at winning this war."<br/> <br />Assad's change of rhetoric came on one of the deadliest days of the 16-month conflict.<br/> <br />Amateur video that could not be independently verified by Reuters shows heavy gunfire and explosions outside of Damascus.<br/> <br />The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights - a group that compiles rebels' reports - said 115 people were killed during the day.<br/> <br />Syria had said rebels had blocked the road from Damascus to Beirut.<br/> <br />Earlier in the day, the former leader of the Syrian opposition group - the Syrian National Council - returned to the city of Idlib.<br/> <br />Amateur video purportedly showed Burhan Ghalioun - who was in exile in Paris - returning to the Syrian city.<br/> <br />He is the most senior Syrian opposition figure to enter Syria since the uprising began last year.<br/> <br />Sarah Irwin, Reuters.
