Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warned Washington on Monday to brace for retaliation if US forces attacked his war-torn country.
"You're going to pay the price if you're not wise. There are going to be repercussions," Assad told CBS television's "This Morning."
"It's an area where everything is on the brink of explosion. You have to expect everything."
He also warned of the risks of possible chemical attacks by rebels if there was outside intervention in Syria.
"You should expect everything... The government's not the only player in this region. You have different parties, different factions, different ideologies. You have everything in this decision now," Assad said.
Assad denied his forces carried out a deadly chemical weapons attack on August 21 on the outskirts of Damascus, as alleged by the United States and some of its allies.
"How can you talk about what happened if you don't have evidence?" he said in the interview, in which he spoke English.
"We're not like the American administration, we're not like the social media administration or government. We're the government that deals with evidence."
In the interview Assad said that his forces had themselves in fact been attacked by rebels using chemical arms.