In an interview with PBS’s Charlie Rose released early September, the increasingly alienated President of Syria participated in an hour long interview with Mr. Rose.

Speaking in English, the President spoke about the toll of the war on the Syrian people, stressing that his regime could not have survived the last two years of constant civil war if not for the support of the Syrian people.

On possible American air-strikes, Assad noted that an airstrike would likely destabilize the region, as it would mean direct American involvement in another Arabian country.

Assad publicly voiced that it was not his government which used chemical weapons, saying that Syria as a matter of protocol (like Israel) would not confirm or deny any stockpiles of WMDs.

Mr. Rose, operating on the assumption that syria did have a stockpile of chemical weapons, asked Assad directly about their use on the 21st of August. Assad responded that it was the work of the rebels (or in his words, “terrorists”), using homemade sarin gas attached to the same kind of rocket which have been regularly launched into Damascus.

Assad called for more evidence from America, and continually brought up the claims of WMD stockpiles in Iraq, which turned out to be fictitious.