Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says his government will honor an agreement to dispose of its chemical arsenal, but denies his forces launched a gas attack last month said to have killed more than one thousand people near Damascus.
In an interview with ((the U.S. network)) Fox News, Mr. Assad promised to abide by a deal reached by U.S. and Russian envoys aimed at liquidating the chemical stockpiles. He said destruction of the weapons would cost $1 billion and would take about a year.
The interview, aired Wednesday, was conducted in Damascus by a Fox correspondent and former U.S. lawmaker Dennis Kucinich, who is now an analyst for the network.
Mr. Assad also insisted his government is not fighting a civil war. He described the two-year conflict as "a new kind of war" pitting government forces against Islamist fighters from more than 80 countries. He also said "80 to 90 percent of the underground terrorists are al-Qaida and their offshoots."