Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad warned of possible retaliation if the United States took military action against his country.
Since the attack on August 21, Assad has denied any use of chemical weapons on his own people. U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, claims there is undeniable proof of the Syrian government’s role in the attacks and has since been trying to rally support for a military strike on Assad’s regime.
USA Today quotes Assad, “How can you talk about what happened if you don’t have evidences? We’re not like the American administration. We’re not social media administration or government. We are the government that deals with reality.”
Assad told Charlie Rose in an interview, if the U.S. should attack “You should expect everything. Not necessarily from the government [...] the government [is] not the only player in this region. You have different parties, you have different factions, you have different ideology. You have everything in this region now. So you have to expect that.”
When asked whether retaliation could take the form of a chemical attack against the United States, Assad replied, “if the rebels or the terrorists in this region or any group have it. It could happen, I don’t know. I am not fortune teller.”
CBS News regards Assad’s comments as a direct allusion to Hezbollah, an Islamic militant group and ally to the Syrian government.
Russia and China are also backing Syria, encouraging the United States to wait for the current United Nations investigation to conclude. The anticipated UN report will not provide any information as to who used the chemical weapons, only which chemical weapons were used.
Kerry made a statement on Monday that a military strike might not be necessary provided that the Syrian regime discharge all its chemical weapons by the end of the week.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
