Fighting in Syria as world slams Assad speech Associated Press Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Updated 3:16 pm, Monday, January 7, 2013 BEIRUT (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday expressed disappointment with Syrian President Bashar Assad for rejecting the most important elements of an international roadmap to end the country's civil war — a political handover and establishment of a transitional governing body. Syria's state media said Monday that government troops repulsed a rebel attack on a police school in the northern city of Aleppo. The official SANA news agency said regime forces killed and wounded members of a "terrorist group" in the fighting late Sunday, but did not provide a number. Aleppo, Syria's largest city and former commercial hub, has been a major front in the civil war since July, with battles often raging for control of military and security facilities such as the police school. In his speech Sunday, his first public address in six months, Assad struck a defiant tone, ignoring international demands for him to step down and saying he is ready to hold a dialogue — but only with those "who have not betrayed Syria." "All regional and international partners should help the immediate resolution of the crisis and prevent its spread to the region," Salehi said in a statement that was carried by the state-run IRNA news agency Monday. The Dutch military on Monday shipped Patriot missiles to Turkey, a fellow NATO member, after the alliance agreed in December to deploy the anti-missile systems along Turkey's southern border with Syria.