Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has affirmed his commitment to destroy his stockpile of chemical weapons, but has said it would take one year to do so, and cost as much as $1 billion.
“It needs a lot of money. It needs about 1 billion (US dollars). It is very detrimental to the environment,” Assad said in an interview to Fox News, commenting: “If the American administration is ready to pay this money and take the responsibility of bringing toxic materials to the United States, why don’t they do itIJ”
Assad, who was interviewed by a Fox News correspondent and former Congressman Dennis Kucinich, was responding to a question if he would be ready to hand over the Syrian chemical weapons to the US.
The recently-concluded US-Russia agreement has drawn up a timetable that stipulates complete destruction of the Syrian stockpile by mid-2014.Assad once again denied responsibility for the August 21 chemical attack on the outskirts of Damascus, blaming it entirely on rebels.
When asked about the UN inspectors report confirming the attack without going into who did it, the Syrian leader at one point even suggested that the sarin gas could have been brought in by an outside Government.
“The sarin gas (is) called kitchen gas. You know whyIJ Because anyone can make sarin in his house,” Assad said, adding: “We know that all those rebels are supported by (foreign) Governments.”
He, however, was emphatic about the Syrian decision to join the Chemical Weapons Convention, saying: “We didn’t say that we are joining partially. ... We joined fully. We sent the letter. We sent the document. And we are committed to the full requirement of this agreement.”