Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad can avoid a U.S.-led military strike if he relinquishes his chemical weapons.
“Sure, he could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week – turn it over, all of it without delay and allow the full and total accounting (of it) but he isn’t about to do it and it can’t be done,” Kerry said in London, as quoted by Reuters.
Assad’s regime has never officially confirmed that it has chemical weapons, but in an interview airing Monday, the embattled leader warned that the U.S. should brace itself for “every action” if it uses military force in Syria.
When asked if chemical weapons could be a part of retaliation against the U.S., Assad said it would depend on whether “the rebels or the terrorists in this region or any other group have it.”
“It could happen, I don’t know. I am not fortune teller,” he said.
