Syrian President Bashar Assad said Israel's attack on the Gaza aid flotilla has
increased the chances of war in the Middle East, in a BBC interview on Wednesday.
Assad said that Syria was working to prevent a regional war but he added that there was no chance of a peace deal with the
current Israeli administration, which he called a "pyromaniac
government".
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Hizbullah has a Scud missile base in SyriaAccording to the
Syrian president last month's Israeli commando assault on the Free Gaza
flotilla in international waters had serious consequences. He noted that
the attack on ships attempting to break Israel's blockade of
the Gaza Strip killed nine Turkish activists.
Israel recently set
up an
inquiry into the
raid after rejecting a UN proposal for an international
investigation.
"[The raid has] destroyed any chance for peace in
the near
future," Assad told the BBC. "Mainly because it proved that this
government is another
pyromaniac government, and you cannot achieve peace with such [a]
government."
Assad denied that he was sending weapons to Hizbullah in
Lebanon, said he was happy to do business with the United
States, but
insisted that Iran would remain an ally.