Assad gives his only television interview since President Barack Obama asked Congress to approve the use of force against the Syrian government for alleged use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people
The PBS broadcast will be the only place to view the interview in its entirety.
Portions of the interview will be broadcast on Monday, September 9, on CBS THIS MORNING (7:00-9:00 a.m.) after which time elements can be seen across CBS News platforms. Rose provided his perspective on the interview during FACE THE NATION on Sunday, September 8.
Syrian President Bashar Assad has warned that the United States should expect a retaliation if it launches a military strike against Syria in response to the alleged August 21 chemical attack.
“You should expect everything. Not necessarily from the government,” Assad told CBS in an interview conducted in the presidential palace in Damascus. He went on to say that it is “not only the government” in the region. “You have different parties, you have different factions, you have different ideology.”
Asked if he would mount a military response to any attack on Syria, Assad said “I am not fortune teller to tell you what’s going to happen.”
The US will “pay the price if you are not wise with dealing with terrorists,” the Syrian president told ‘CBS This Morning’ co-host Charlie Rose in his first interview with American television in nearly two years.
This comes as American President Barack Obama is seeking to win an authorization from US Congress – that has been rather skeptical so far – for a ‘limited’ military strike against the Syrian government. The administration accused the Syrian government of ordering the use of chemical weapons in a Damascus suburb last month.
Assad, however, denied any involvement in the alleged attack.
“There is no evidence that I used chemical weapons against my own people,” he said.
According to Assad, the government forces were not in the area of the chemical weapons attack on August 21.
“Our soldiers in another area were attacked chemically,” he said. “But in the area where they said the government used chemical weapons, we only had video and we only have pictures and allegations. We’re not there.”
The full version of the interview, portions of which were shown by CBS, will be aired on Monday evening on PBS.