Syrian President Bashar Assad asserted Monday that a regional war may erupt in the Middle East amid severe conditions of chaos and extremism if the western countries strike Syria.

Syrian President Bashar Assad asserted Monday that a regional war may erupt in the Middle East amid severe conditions of chaos and extremism if the western countries strike Syria.

"The middle East lies on a Powder Keg. We must not tackle the Syrian response only. After the first strike, the region will be in an uncontrollable situation as chaos and extremism will spread and a regional war may erupt," he told the French daily  Le Figaro.

Commenting on the international accusations for the Syrian army of launching the chemical attack against the residents of Gouta in Damascus countryside, President Assad considered that he who accuses must provide proofs. We challenge the U.S. and France to submit even one proof. Regardless of whether the Syrian army has such weapons, is it logical that it uses them in an area where its troops deploy, knowing that a Syrian soldier was injured by the attack? August 21st also marked the arrival of the UN chemical inspectors in Damascus, so it is illogical that the Syrian may have given the orders to launch such an attack under such conditions.

 Responding to a question about whether France may  become Syria enemy, Assad underlined that everyone who causes harm for Syria and its citizens is an enemy, especially in case of providing the terrorist groups with financial and military supplies. The French people are not Syria enemies, yet the hostile policies of the French government turn it to be our foe. This hostility, however, ends whenever the French government changes its policies regarding Syria. "France would accordingly face "repercussions" if it took part in US-led plans for military action."

Tackling the Syrian crisis, Assad said that at the start of the crisis, now into its third year, a solution could have been found through dialogue or political measures but the situation today is "different".

"We are fighting terrorists. Eighty to 90 percent of those we are fighting belong to Al-Qaeda. Those people are neither interested in reforms, nor in politics," he said, adding that "the sole option was to liquidate them."

Assad said the only way to a solution would be to prevent terrorists backed by money and arms from entering Syria and dismissed the opposition as foreign stooges.

"The opposition has no popular base in Syria. It is made in France, made in Qatar but certainly not made in Syria, he said." "It follows the orders of those who made it."

The Syrian leader specifically named Britain, the United States, France, Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia as those who had provided huge financial and military backing to the opposition.