Assad says West will pay for backing al Qaeda in Syria

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  SANA via ReutersSyria's President Bashar Assad, right, attends an interview with Syrian television channel al-Ikhbariya in Damascus, in this handout photograph distributed by Syria's national news agency SANA on April 17. By Mariam Karouny and Dominic Evans, ReutersPresident Bashar Assad accused the West on Wednesday of supporting al  Qaeda militants in Syria's civil war and warned they would turn against  their backers and strike "in the heart of Europe and the United  States."

Assad also launched his strongest criticism yet of  neighboring Jordan for allowing thousands of fighters to cross the  border to join a conflict he insisted his forces would win and save  Syria from destruction.

"We have no choice but victory. If we  don't win, Syria will be finished and I don't think this is a choice for  any citizen in Syria," the defiant president said in a television  interview.


Assad's forces have been fighting back across the  country against rebels who have taken control of much of rural Syria and  seized a provincial capital in March for the first time in two years of  fighting.

Follow @NBCNewsWorldThe conflict started with mainly peaceful  demonstrations but descended into a civil war in which the United  Nations says at least 70,000 people have been killed. Islamist militants  have emerged as the most potent of the anti-Assad rebels.

Drawing  parallels with Western support for anti-Soviet fighters in Afghanistan  in the 1980s, some of whom later formed the al Qaeda organization which  attacked the United States in September 2011, Assad said Washington and  Europe would regret supporting rebels in Syria.

"The West paid  heavily for funding al Qaeda in its early stages in Afghanistan. Today  it is supporting it in Syria, Libya and other places, and will pay a  heavy price later in the heart of Europe and the United States," he told  al-Ikhbariya channel.

"The truth is, what is happening is that we are mainly facing extremist forces," Assad added.

He  was speaking a week after Syria's rebel al-Nusra Front, one of the most  effective rebel forces battling his troops, formally pledged allegiance  to al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri.Slideshow: Syria uprising / A look back at the conflict that has overtaken the country.Launch slideshowThe United States has  designated the Nusra Front a terrorist organization and has sought to  bolster rival rebel forces to counter the influence of the Islamists,  training fighters in neighboring Jordan and allowing arms shipments to  them.

In some of his toughest comments against Jordan, Assad  said Syria's southern neighbor had allowed thousands of fighters with  military gear to cross into Syria to join the fight, and warned that the  conflict could spread to Jordanian territory.

"The fire will not stop at our border and everybody knows that Jordan is exposed as Syria is," he said.

He  said Syria had sent a security envoy to Amman in recent weeks to  inquire about the fighters and reports of rebel training camps but he  was met with "complete denial" of any Jordanian role in either issue.

The  United States will send 200 troops to Jordan in the coming weeks to  help the kingdom boost its defenses in the face of a "deteriorating  situation" in Syria, Jordanian Minister of State for Information  Mohammad al-Momani told Reuters.

Rebels say U.S. officers in  Jordan have been training groups of anti-Assad fighters from Damascus  and the southern province of Deraa - where fighting has intensified in  recent weeks and rebels have made gains.

"It's not possible to  believe that thousands enter Syria with their gear (from Jordan) when  Jordan is able to stop or arrest a single person carrying a simple  weapon for resistance in Palestine," Assad said.

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