Syria’s Assad: Chemical weapon attack never happened

Syrian President Bashar Assad alleged Thursday that the April 4 chemical attack against civilians in Idlib province is a "100 percent fabrication" that provided the US with a pretext for last week's Tomahawk missile strike on a Syrian airbase. He also claimed during the interview with AFP that the area of the incident is not strategically important; that the videos showing victims of the deadly attack were fake; that the only evidence was provided by a branch of Al Qaeda; that his country's "ability to attack the terrorists hasn't been affected" by the US retaliatory strike; and that Syria's forces surrendered all of their chemical weapons in 2013.
As for the possibility of an international investigation of the incident. Assad said his country will only allow an "impartial" one by "unbiased countries" to ensure that it will not be used for political purposes.