First interview since massacre • Assad threatens: "US will fail in Syria as in Vietnam"

Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks: in an interview with the Russian newspaper "Izvestia" Assad said that world leaders will not make Syria a puppet of the West," as he put it.

This is the first interview after the attack which Assad gives after the attack in Damascus last week. Regarding allegations that his army uses chemical weapons against the rebels, he said: "These are statements of politicians in the United States, the West and other countries. It's an insult to intelligence. The claims are embarrassing to public opinion in these countries. It's nonsense."

Assad also said: "First of all they blame, and then collect evidence. On Wednesday they accused us, and only two days later the U.S. announced that it will begin an investigation into evidence. How do they intend to collect evidence from such a distance?

"They claim that our army used chemical weapons in an area which is actually controlled by the rebels. These are political charges, created by a series of victories we had over the terrorists."

According to Assad, the West is funding the rebels, whom he calls "terrorist organizations". He criticized Israel for allowing the injured to be admitted to its hospitals and considers this intervention in the civil war in Syria. He claims that there is cooperation between Israel and the rebels.

Regarding the possibility that the United States will launch a military operation against him: "They are facing a failure, as in all wars they provoked, from Vietnam to the present. America has participated in countless wars but never managed to achieve the political goals which were the cause of war. It could not convince its multi- ethnic public of the righteousness of war, or justify it in the eyes of other countries. Enormous powers can go to war, but can they win it? ".

About which country did Assad have good things to say?

"My ties with Moscow are good."

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!