If US attacks us, we won't stay quiet: Syria

NEW DELHI: Syria today said it will defend itself in case of a possible attack by the US and termed the developments as American "conspiracy" to topple the current regime.

Syrian Ambassador to India Riad Kamel Abbas also "challenged" the US to come out with evidence on use of chemical weapons saying Washington was doing the same thing it did in Iraq.

He said the developments in Syria were not aimed at democracy or reforms but were part of a big conspiracy by the US to topple the Assad regime or change its policy in the Middle East.

"If the US attacks Syria, we will not stay quiet. We are not in favour of American policy. We will fight and protect our people and will not surrender our country," Abbas said on the sidelines of an event.

On being asked how it was preparing itself in case of a possible attack, Abbas said information was being shared with "friends".

"We have a strong army to defend ourselves and we have active missions who explain what the situation is. This is a conspiracy of the US and they want to control our natural resources. The only thing US wants from Middle East is oil and the security of Israel."

Asking the international community to come and see if there were any chemical weapons in Syria, Abbas said everything was based on a "weak lie" propagated by the US.

"I challenge the US to show us evidence about this issue. We have our evidence. The US has not showed any evidence and this is a weak lie coming from them. It is the same lie which US used against Iraq and after 10 years, they said that it was a wrong story. We ask the international community to come and investigate chemical weapons in our country," said Abbas.