Assad Pre-Trump Strike: ‘Most Countries of the World’ Have Been ‘Cooperating with Us’

The majority of countries in the world, including Western nations, have been “cooperating” with the Syrian regime throughout the ongoing civil war, claimed the country’s dictator Bashar al-Assad in an interview with a state-owned Croatian media outlet.

Assad’s made those comments earlier this week before the U.S. bombed one his bases Thursday in response to a chemical attack the Syrian regime carried out on Tuesday, killing as many as 100 people, including at least 27 children.

During the recent interview with the Croatian daily Vecernji, Assad was asked if there was any “glimmer of hope of an end to the Syrian war?”

“Of course, for without hope neither the country, nor the people, nor the state could withstand six years of an extremely ferocious war supported by tens of regional and Western countries, some of the wealthiest and most powerful countries in the world,” he responded.

The Russia- and Iran-backed Syrian dictator considers all opposition groups, including the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) and those backed by Western powers, to be terrorists.

Asked, “can we say that it’s only Syria that is fighting terrorism today?”

“The world that declared war consists practically of Western countries which themselves support terrorism,” replied Assad, “Most countries of the world are against terrorism. They do not declare that, but they have been practically cooperating with us in one way or another during the war, and before the war because terrorism did not start only with the war on Syria.”

On Thursday, Turkey confirmed chemical weapons were used in Tuesday’s attack by Assad troops in rebel-held part of northern Syria that also wounded up to 546 people, according to UNICEF, making it one of the worst atrocities since the civil war started in 2001.

While the international community condemned the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin doubled down on his support for Assad before and after the U.S. airstrikes.

The Syrian leader has used chemical weapons throughout the civil war.

However, this time President Donald Trump’s administration took military action against Assad in response.

“There’s no doubt in our mind that the Syrian regime, under the leadership of Bashar al-Assad, is responsible for this horrific attack,” Trump’s Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters Thursday.

The chemical weapons attack in Syria’s Idlib province was a “heinous” act that “crossed a lot of lines for me,” added Trump.

In response to America’s approach to the deadly assault, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov before the Trump administration attacked the Syrian base warned against “snap judgments.”

“It’s indeed a very menacing course of events, dangerous and horrible crime. However, sticking labels on everyone, prematurely, is not a correct thing to do, in our opinion,” he added.

Russia has suspended Russian a memorandum with United States that prevented direct conflict with American troops in Syria in response to the U.S. airstrikes on Assad’s base, reports the Independent.

Syria’s other major ally state-sponsor of terror Iran described the U.S. move as “dangerous, destructive and a violation of international law.”

On Thursday, Turkey revealed that their investigation found that the poison used in the terrorist act was the banned nerve agent sarin.

Despite repeatedly crossing former President Barack Obama’s “red line” by using chemical weapons on citizens, the former administration took no action against the Syrian dictator.