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September 9th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
Updated
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has warned the United States can “expect every action” in retaliation if it attacks, as the US offers the Syrian regime the chance to avoid strikes by surrendering its chemical arms.
Mr Assad made the comments in a new television interview with US network CBS conducted in Damascus, in which he also denied involvement in an alleged attack involving chemical weapons last month believed to have killed 1,400 people.
“You’re going to pay the price if you’re not wise. There are going to be repercussions,” Mr Assad told CBS television.
“It’s an area where everything is on the brink of explosion. You have to expect everything.
“The government’s not the only player in this region. You have different parties, different factions, different ideologies. You have everything in this decision now.”
Mr Assad was asked if the “everything” he predicts might break out if America attacks could include the use of more chemical weapons.
“That depends. If the rebels or the terrorists in this region or any other group have it, it could happen. I don’t know. I’m not a fortune teller to tell you what’s going to happen,” Mr Assad said.
The Syrian leader also challenged the US to reveal the evidence it claims to have linking his regime to the chemical attacks.
“How can you talk about what happened if you don’t have evidence?” he said in the interview, in which he spoke English.
“We’re not like the American administration, we’re not like the social media administration or government. We’re the government that deals with evidence.”
US secretary of state John Kerry says intelligence has proven Assad forces are responsible for the deadly attacks and the US must “stand up and act”.
However, he says Mr Assad could prevent a US-led attack if he turned over his chemical weapons in the next week – but he had no expectation that would happen.
“He could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week – turn it over, all of it, without delay and allow a full and total accounting for that,” Mr Kerry said.
“But he isn’t about to do it and it can’t be done.”
Mr Kerry said the solution to the Syrian conflict must be political, not military, but that air strikes were essential to stop the Assad regime from killing its own people with chemical weapons.
“Let me be clear, the United States, President Obama, myself, others are in full agreement that the end of the conflict in Syria requires a political solution,” he said.
“There is no military solution, we have no illusions about that.
“But a resolution to this has to come about because the parties are prepared to come and negotiate that political solution.”
Mr Kerry dismissed Mr Assad’s denials of involvement in the chemical attack, saying it was necessary to act against “dictators” who kill their own people.
“For almost 100 years, the world has stood together against the use of chemical weapons,” Mr Kerry said.
“And we need to hear an appropriate outcry as we think back on those moments of history when large numbers of people have been killed because the world was silent – the Holocaust, Rwanda, other moments, are lessons for all of us today.
“We believe that is dangerous and we will face this down the road in some more significant way if we’re not prepared to take … a stand now.”
Syria ‘ready for dialogue’ on conflict
Meanwhile, Russia has warned military strikes on Syria risked causing an “outburst of terrorism” in the region at a time when the Damascus regime is still ready for talks to end the conflict.
“All the more, politicians share our estimation that a military solution will lead to an outburst of terrorism both in Syria and in neighbouring countries,” foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said after talks with Syrian counterpart Walid al-Muallem.
Mr Lavrov also warned strikes would create even more refugees and added Russia “cannot not be worried by the fate of Russians living in Syria whose health and life might be put at risk”.
“The possibility for a political solution remains,” Mr Lavrov said, emphasising that his Syrian counterpart has assured him at the talks in Moscow that Damascus was still “ready for peace talks”.
Russia and the US agreed in May to organise a peace conference in Geneva bringing all the sides to the negotiating table, but the idea is far from materialising amid tensions between Moscow and Washington.
“We are truly ready to take part in the Geneva conference without preconditions,” Mr Muallem said.
“We are also ready for dialogue with all political forces who favour re-establishing peace in our country.”
But he warned that the position would change if military strikes took place.
Mr Lavrov reaffirmed his belief that military strikes on Syria could wreck the chances of holding the peace conference and said UN-Arab League Syria envoy Lakhdar Brahimi had told him last week that he shared this view.
AFP/Reuters
Topics:
unrest-conflict-and-war,
world-politics,
government-and-politics,
syrian-arab-republic,
united-states,
united-kingdom,
russian-federation
First posted
Source Article from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-09/russia-warns-syria-strikes-would-cause-27outburst-of-terror27/4946928
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