Syria Will Retaliate Against US Attack, Assad Says

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warns retaliation if the US goes ahead with a military strike on Syria, saying that if there are military strikes, Americans can “expect every action”.

Assad’s statement came as part of a television interview with Charlie Rose of the CBS broadcasting network, in which the Syrian President denied involvement over the alleged August 21 chemical weapons attack, Al Jazeera.net said on Monday.

Al Assad said that if there were US attacks on Syria, in response, the US “should expect everything”. He also said that the US will “pay the price” for its actions.

Video of Assad making the comments in the Syrian capital Damascus was aired for the first time on Monday, Al Jazeera.net reported. AL Assad has also said an attack by international forces may result retaliation from its allies.

Al Jazeera.net reported that Al Assad has denied that he was behind the chemical weapons attack on the Syrian people saying the evidence was not conclusive. “There has been no evidence that I used chemical weapons against my own people,” Al Assad was quoted saying.

The US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday the ‘evidence speaks for itself’ dismissing the claim by the Syrian president that there was no evidence he used chemical weapons against his own people, Al Jazeera.net reported.

Reports said Kerry made the remark in response to a question as he began a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks on July 29, this, Al Jazeera said, is according to a US reporter who attended a photo session on behalf of other journalists travelling with him.

The US, along with other Western and regional countries, accuses the Assad regime of carrying out a chemical attack in a Damascus suburb on August 21, killing hundreds of people, Al Jazeera.net reported.

Al Jazeera reported that speaking on the CBS Sunday morning show Face the Nation, Rose summarised the answers Assad gave in his first interview with an American television network in the last two years.

Rose has said Assad did not confirm or deny that his regime has chemical weapons.

The US and France are building an international coalition to launch military strikes against Syria in response to the alleged chemical attack, Al Jazeera.net reported.

Member countries of the EU also blame the Syrian government for the attack, but said on Saturday that there should not be any military response before a report from UN weapons inspectors is published, Al Jazeera.net reported.

Source: Al Jazeera.net