BEIJING / SHANGHAI (AA) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday warned chemical weapons inspectors that Syrian opposition may attack them.
"Syrian opposition may attack international inspectors sent into a country in a war to secure its arsenal of chemical weapons," al-Assad said in an interview aired Sunday by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
Regarding the quantities of chemical weapons in Syria, al- Assad said, "Syria has been producing these weapons for decades, and it is quite natural that there are large quantities of them."
Al-Assad said "We are in a state of war, and we have territories that have been occupied for over 40 years," and continued, "But at any event, the Syrian army was geared toward fighting with conventional weapons."
Syrian opposition may not even allow them to enter where the chemical weapons are located, al-Assad stated.
US, Turkey and other Western countries have blamed Assad regime for an August 21 chemical weapons attack outside Damascus.
Al-Assad indicated that the weapons stockpile is secure, despite the civil war raging in Syria.
"Chemical weapons are safely stored to prevent terrorists or groups from taking them over," said al-Assad.
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