Syrian President Bashar Assad says Syria has not possessed chemical weapons since it got rid of them five years ago and that allegations of their use are a pretext for invasion by other countries.
Assad's comments came in an interview with Russia's state-controlled NTV television channel, which aired it on Sunday.
"We don't have any chemical weapons (...) we gave them up," he said.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad gives an interview to the Russian NTV Channel. Source: AAP
Syria has been charged repeatedly with using chemical weapons in its civil war, most recently in April in the town of Douma. The United States, France and the United Kingdom launched air strikes in retaliation.
Assad said reconstructing Syria after the devastation wrought by the war could cost 400 billion US dollars, but added "we are not worried about that."
Children walk in a devastated area of Douma in Eastern Ghouta, Syria, on April 16, 2018, where chemical weapons were suspected to have been used. Source: AP
He said "loans from your friends," funds from the Syrian diaspora and money from the government as well as Syrians living in the country would be enough.
Assad said he won't allow "the West" to be a part of the reconstruction.
"We don't need the West. The West is not honest at all. They don't give. They only take," he said.
He also said meeting US President Donald Trump, like North Korean leader Kim Jong-un did, would be a "waste of time".
"The problem with American Presidents is that they are hostages to their lobbyists, the mainstream media, to the huge corporations, financial, oil armaments, et cetera, so they can tell you whatever they want."
