Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad warned Monday that Western military strikes would risk igniting a "regional war" in the "powder keg" of the Middle East, in an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro.
President Barack Obama said on Saturday that the U.S. should take military action in Syria over Pres. Bashar al-Assad's use of chemical weapons against rebel areas in the suburbs of Damascus. However, Reuters reported, he will seek the approval of the U.S. Congress before doing so.
Hundreds of people protested at New York's Times Square on Thursday over possible US plans to strike Syria's regime which it believes to be behind a deadly chemical attack.
The European Union has sought to punish the family of Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, blacklisting his wife, mother, sister, and sister-in-law and freezing their assets.
