Post date: Sep 10, 2013 11:18:30 AM
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has warned of possible reprisal attacks if the United States uses military force against Syria, saying that if there were strikes, Americans could "expect every action."
DAMASCUS, SYRIA (SEPTEMBER 8, 2013) (CHARLIE ROSE/PBS) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in an interview with CBS television that aired on Monday (September 9), denied involvement in a suspected chemical weapons attack nearDamascus on August 21.
The United States says more than 1,400 people were killed in the attack, which it blames on Assad's forces. President Barack Obama has threatened military strikes against Syria as punishment.Assad, who has accused the rebels of the poison gas attack, said that if there were U.S. strikes onSyria, the United States "should expect everything."
Repercussions "may take different forms," including "direct and indirect" effects, Assad told CBS in the interview, which was conducted in Damascus.
Indirect impacts could include "instability and the spread of terrorism all over the region that will influence the West directly," Assad said.
He said there could be repercussions against the United States from other countries or groups such as Iran or Lebanon's Hezbollah.
His comments come as Obama prepares to press his case for military action before the American public and U.S. lawmakers this week. Obama has asked the U.S. Congress to authorize a military strike, and votes could come as early as this week.
In the meantime, Assad said: "We have to expect the worst."
Assad repeatedly rejected the idea that there is any evidence linking his government to the August 21 attack, and he blasted U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's efforts to round up international support for military strikes.
Kerry dismissed Assad's denial of involvement in the attack.
Assad said that any U.S. strikes would boost the al Qaeda offshoot in his country: "It's going to be direct support."
"It's area where everything is on the brink of explosion. You have to expect everything," Assad said.
President Obama has proposed military action in Syria to safeguard an international ban on chemical weapons usage, defend U.S. national security interests and protect regional allies likeTurkey, Jordan and Israel, and he has asked the U.S. Congress for authorization.
Assad doesn't believe Obama's administration has any evidence that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons, and implored them to "be transparent" and show what evidence they do have to the American public.
Syria, which has never signed a global treaty banning the storage of chemical weapons, is believed to have large stocks of sarin, mustard gas and VX nerve agents - the actual use of which is banned by a 1925 treaty to which Damascus is a signatory.
Obama will present his case for military action in Syria in a televised address on Tuesday (September 10).