PARIS—President Bashar Assad warned Monday that Syria will retaliate if France takes part in foreign strikes on his forces.
His remarks came as France made public a nine-page intelligence document suggesting Assad’s fighters were behind the “massive and co-ordinated” chemical attack on Aug. 21.
“If the policies of the French state are hostile to the Syrian people, the state will be their enemy,” Assad said in an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro. “There will be repercussions, negative ones obviously, on French interests.”
France has been backing Syrian rebels since the start of the 2½-year-old civil war. It fears the violence may spill into Lebanon, where about 20,000 French citizens live, many French companies operate and where France has an 800-strong contingent of UN peacekeepers.
Assad, in the Le Figaro interview, which will be published in its entirely on Tuesday, blamed France for deciding “to renounce its independence and become a subaltern actor in American politics.”
He said it would have made no sense to use chemical weapons in an area where his troops were also fighting.
“Those who make accusations must show evidence. We have challenged the United States and France to come up with a single piece of proof. Obama and (French President François) Hollande have been incapable of doing so,” said Assad.
“The question is whether the French will find their independence when they take their decision,” he said.
Assad described the Middle East as a “powder keg” and predicated a Western attack on Syria could push the entire Middle East into chaos.
“We shouldn’t just talk about a Syrian response, but what will happen after the first strike,” he said. “Everybody will lose control of the situation when the powder keg blows. There is a risk of a regional war.”