President al-Assad: We have not intervened to solve the crisis in Lebanon and do not support any candidate

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad confirmed in an interview with "Sky News Arabia" that "We have not intervened to solve the crisis in Lebanon and do not support any candidate."

He indicated, "Dialogue with Washington began years ago and is taking place intermittently without yielding any results," considering, "If we had avoided the war, we would have paid a much higher price later." He clarified, "Since the beginning of the war, we knew it would be a long-lasting war."

President al-Assad affirmed that there are "scenarios to create a state of terror in Syria, as happened with Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein."

"Stepping down from power was not on the table because it would be fleeing due to the war," he mentioned.

He added, "The opposition that I recognize is the locally manufactured opposition, not the externally manufactured one," pointing out that "The Arab League has not truly transformed into an institution."

He also emphasized that "The countries that created chaos in Syria are responsible for the drug trade."