Assad Taunts ‘Weak’ Obama, Warns Middle East is a ‘Powder Keg’
On Monday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad called President Barack Obama “weak,” for making what Assad claimed was an illegitimate and unsuccessful case for war.
“For us, a strong man prevents rather than starts a war,” Assad said. “If Obama was strong, he would have said publicly: ‘We have no evidence of the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian state.’ He would have said publicly: ‘The only way to proceed is through U.N. investigations. We therefore refer everything to the Security Council.’ But Obama is weak because he is facing pressure from within the United States.”
Speaking to the French paper Le Figaro, Assad rejected the claim that he had used chemical weapons.
“Anyone accusing must give proof,” Assad said. “We have challenged the United States and France to come forward with a single proof.”
He did not, however, deny that the Syrian army possessed chemical weapons.
Assad also warned that the regional tensions contained in the Syrian conflict would metastasize if the U.S. intervened: “The Middle East is a powder keg, and the fire is approaching today.”
[h/t NBC]
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