Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday said his country had beaten back a foreign "blitzkrieg" following months of historic rallies last year against the strongman's decades-long rule. "The blitzkrieg did not succeed, we held on to our country," Lukashenko said in a speech at the opening of the All-Belarusian People's Assembly that brought together hundreds of loyal delegates for a two-day convention in the capital Minsk. bur-acl/jbr/gd