By . Meghan Keneally . PUBLISHED: . 19:03 EST, 18 September 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 06:35 EST, 19 September 2013 . Syrian President Bashar al Assad has maintained that he is defending his people from outside terrorist groups, saying that the country's war is one that is helping his people on the whole. The doctor-turned-dictator was asked to compare his role in ordering the government forces to attack the rebels is similar to that of a surgeon getting rid of destructive portions of a sick person's body. 'Doctors take the right decisions to protect the life of the patient because you can't say they don't do harm physically,' he said during an interview with Fox News, making a reference to the Hippocratic oath that all doctors. Indignant: Syrian President Bashar al Assad used his latest televised interview to say that there is still no evidence that his soldiers used chemical weapons . 'The same for a politician: a doctor deals with one patient and the politicians deal with the public. 'The question is whether your decision should help the lives of the Syrians or not. Nobody likes the violence... but what do you do when the terrorists attack your government?' During a televised interview with Fox . News that aired Wednesday night, the Syrian President rejected the . findings of the United Nations report that declared that an attack . involving sarin gas did occur in the country on August 21. First due no harm: Assad was asked about the Hippocratic Oath he was forced to take as a doctor, and if that applied to him as a politician . He did not deny that the attack occurred- saying that 'it's despicable, it's a crime'- but he did clearly try to distance his forces from any culpability. 'Sarin gas is called the kitchen gas you know why? because you can make it anywhere,' he said. Assad said that the evidence cited in the United Nations report was not all of the proof and did not prove that the weapons were used by his armed forces. 'They have the samples and they're supposed to be objective... the information is different than evidence,' he said of the UN report. 'No one has verified the credibility of the video and the pictures. the only verified things are the samples from victims. 'You cannot build a report on videos, its not verified. You have a lot of forgery on the internet,' he said making a clear reference to the videos of dying victims that the CIA made publicly available first to Senators and Congressmen but then also to the American public when President Obama was building his case for a retaliatory missile attack. The interview marks the second that the Syrian President has approved with Western journalists since the August 21 chemical weapons attack outside of Damascus. The first was with Charlie Rose for . CBS and the interview that aired today on Fox News was arranged through . former Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich. During . the interview with Rose, Assad did not say whether his government was . in control of chemical weapons and during the Fox interview he said that . they clearly do since they have agreed to the international proposal to . turn over their stockpile. Sit down: Assad was interviewed by former Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich (left) and Fox News reporter Greg Palkot (next to Kucinich) inside the Presidential palace in Damascus . 'It's not a secret anymore,' Assad said. 'We never said no, we never said yes but we always say it is a classified issue.' During the hour-long interview, Assad maintained that he did not necessarily agree with the number of fatalities that have occurred since the onslaught of the civil war in Syria two years ago- nor did he even agree that it should be categorized as a civil war. He said that the large number of missing individuals makes it impossible for there to be a firm number of more than 100,000 people killed in the country- which has been widely accepted by Western governments as well as the United Nations. ‘We have tens of thousands of Syrians who have died... mainly because of terrorists and bombs,’ he said. 'We have thousands of missing people, we don't know if they're dead or not dead....This is a human tragedy its not about numbers. 'I cannot minimize it (the death toll) because in every house you have pain today, in every house your have sadness.' Under attack: Assad maintained that the government was continually being attacked by outside terrorist groups who are masquerading as internal opposition forces . Assad continually asserted that the rebels and opposition forces originate from outside of Syria, claiming that his country embraces opposition and allows them to exist since they have ‘grassroots’ in the homeland. The people fighting Syrian government forces now, Assad said, are funded and come from other countries and the large majority of them- 80 to 90 per cent- have ties to al Qaeda. ‘What we have is not civil war what we have is war but it’s a new kind of war,’ he said. 'We are defending our country. if you do not defend, this number will be many fold,' he said of the disputed death count.' Assad said that in spite of the months of heated rhetoric and outright threats from the United States, he does not see America as opposition- even though he previously said that the country should 'expect everything' if President Obama did order a missile strike against Syria. 'We never looked at the United States as (an) enemy,' Assad said in Tuesday's interview. 'First of all the United States because they're the greatest country in the world, that's self evident... we want to have good relations of course.' He went on to say that once an international agreement is settled regarding the collection and destruction of the Syrian nuclear weapons, he will make sure that it will be put into effect. 'We want to fully cooperate with this agreement, not partially,' Assad said. Horror: The Obama administration has released a series of videos (pictured)of the victims from the August 21 attack, but in today's interview Assad said there is no way to know the video is not a fake . Attacks: The chemical gas attacks occurred on August 21 in the rebel strongholds near Demascus and was thought to have left more than 1,000 dead . There is a tentatively-scheduled . presidential election in Syria in the spring of next year, and while he . 'won' his last election with 97.6 per cent of the vote in 2007, he said . that the people should feel fully entitled to nominate a different . candidate if they do not like his leadership. In spite of the ongoing war, he maintains that his rule is still a good one for his people. 'I . would say I am the hope of the Syrians... Other states- they are much . farther from democracy than the Syrian state,' Assad said. The hour-long . Fox interview took place on Tuesday inside the presidential palace in . Damascus but aired on Wednesday evening in the United States. The interview was taped by a Syrian news crew but Clemente was in the control room at the time and it was aired in full on Fox. 'On Saturday, Sept. 7, ... Dennis Kucinich advised me that he believed he could secure an interview with … Assad, whom he had met on previous occasions,' Fox executive vice president of news Michael Clemente said in a statement to Politico. 'At the time, it appeared that an American military attack on Syria was imminent, and I decided that Kucinich should pursue the interview, on condition that Fox News journalists would also be included.' Mr Kucinich has worked for Fox as a contributor since January, but during the interview he was accompanied by the network's Middle East correspondent Greg Palkot.
Syrian President admitted that 'it's not a secret' that they have chemical weapons but said that they will agree to hand them over to be destroyed .
Still denies that the August 21 sarin gas attack stemmed from his troops .
Said that his government must fight back against the 'terrorists' who he believes have come into Syria from other countries and al Qaeda .
Called America the 'greatest country in the world' but also said he has never spoken with President Obama .
By . Meghan Keneally . PUBLISHED: . 19:03 EST, 18 September 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 06:35 EST, 19 September 2013 . Syrian President Bashar al Assad has maintained that he is defending his people from outside terrorist groups, saying that the country's war is one that is helping his people on the whole. The doctor-turned-dictator was asked to compare his role in ordering the government forces to attack the rebels is similar to that of a surgeon getting rid of destructive portions of a sick person's body. 'Doctors take the right decisions to protect the life of the patient because you can't say they don't do harm physically,' he said during an interview with Fox News, making a reference to the Hippocratic oath that all doctors. Indignant: Syrian President Bashar al Assad used his latest televised interview to say that there is still no evidence that his soldiers used chemical weapons . 'The same for a politician: a doctor deals with one patient and the politicians deal with the public. 'The question is whether your decision should help the lives of the Syrians or not. Nobody likes the violence... but what do you do when the terrorists attack your government?' During a televised interview with Fox . News that aired Wednesday night, the Syrian President rejected the . findings of the United Nations report that declared that an attack . involving sarin gas did occur in the country on August 21. First due no harm: Assad was asked about the Hippocratic Oath he was forced to take as a doctor, and if that applied to him as a politician . He did not deny that the attack occurred- saying that 'it's despicable, it's a crime'- but he did clearly try to distance his forces from any culpability. 'Sarin gas is called the kitchen gas you know why? because you can make it anywhere,' he said. Assad said that the evidence cited in the United Nations report was not all of the proof and did not prove that the weapons were used by his armed forces. 'They have the samples and they're supposed to be objective... the information is different than evidence,' he said of the UN report. 'No one has verified the credibility of the video and the pictures. the only verified things are the samples from victims. 'You cannot build a report on videos, its not verified. You have a lot of forgery on the internet,' he said making a clear reference to the videos of dying victims that the CIA made publicly available first to Senators and Congressmen but then also to the American public when President Obama was building his case for a retaliatory missile attack. The interview marks the second that the Syrian President has approved with Western journalists since the August 21 chemical weapons attack outside of Damascus. The first was with Charlie Rose for . CBS and the interview that aired today on Fox News was arranged through . former Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich. During . the interview with Rose, Assad did not say whether his government was . in control of chemical weapons and during the Fox interview he said that . they clearly do since they have agreed to the international proposal to . turn over their stockpile. Sit down: Assad was interviewed by former Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich (left) and Fox News reporter Greg Palkot (next to Kucinich) inside the Presidential palace in Damascus . 'It's not a secret anymore,' Assad said. 'We never said no, we never said yes but we always say it is a classified issue.' During the hour-long interview, Assad maintained that he did not necessarily agree with the number of fatalities that have occurred since the onslaught of the civil war in Syria two years ago- nor did he even agree that it should be categorized as a civil war. He said that the large number of missing individuals makes it impossible for there to be a firm number of more than 100,000 people killed in the country- which has been widely accepted by Western governments as well as the United Nations. ‘We have tens of thousands of Syrians who have died... mainly because of terrorists and bombs,’ he said. 'We have thousands of missing people, we don't know if they're dead or not dead....This is a human tragedy its not about numbers. 'I cannot minimize it (the death toll) because in every house you have pain today, in every house your have sadness.' Under attack: Assad maintained that the government was continually being attacked by outside terrorist groups who are masquerading as internal opposition forces . Assad continually asserted that the rebels and opposition forces originate from outside of Syria, claiming that his country embraces opposition and allows them to exist since they have ‘grassroots’ in the homeland. The people fighting Syrian government forces now, Assad said, are funded and come from other countries and the large majority of them- 80 to 90 per cent- have ties to al Qaeda. ‘What we have is not civil war what we have is war but it’s a new kind of war,’ he said. 'We are defending our country. if you do not defend, this number will be many fold,' he said of the disputed death count.' Assad said that in spite of the months of heated rhetoric and outright threats from the United States, he does not see America as opposition- even though he previously said that the country should 'expect everything' if President Obama did order a missile strike against Syria. 'We never looked at the United States as (an) enemy,' Assad said in Tuesday's interview. 'First of all the United States because they're the greatest country in the world, that's self evident... we want to have good relations of course.' He went on to say that once an international agreement is settled regarding the collection and destruction of the Syrian nuclear weapons, he will make sure that it will be put into effect. 'We want to fully cooperate with this agreement, not partially,' Assad said. Horror: The Obama administration has released a series of videos (pictured)of the victims from the August 21 attack, but in today's interview Assad said there is no way to know the video is not a fake . Attacks: The chemical gas attacks occurred on August 21 in the rebel strongholds near Demascus and was thought to have left more than 1,000 dead . There is a tentatively-scheduled . presidential election in Syria in the spring of next year, and while he . 'won' his last election with 97.6 per cent of the vote in 2007, he said . that the people should feel fully entitled to nominate a different . candidate if they do not like his leadership. In spite of the ongoing war, he maintains that his rule is still a good one for his people. 'I . would say I am the hope of the Syrians... Other states- they are much . farther from democracy than the Syrian state,' Assad said. The hour-long . Fox interview took place on Tuesday inside the presidential palace in . Damascus but aired on Wednesday evening in the United States. The interview was taped by a Syrian news crew but Clemente was in the control room at the time and it was aired in full on Fox. 'On Saturday, Sept. 7, ... Dennis Kucinich advised me that he believed he could secure an interview with … Assad, whom he had met on previous occasions,' Fox executive vice president of news Michael Clemente said in a statement to Politico. 'At the time, it appeared that an American military attack on Syria was imminent, and I decided that Kucinich should pursue the interview, on condition that Fox News journalists would also be included.' Mr Kucinich has worked for Fox as a contributor since January, but during the interview he was accompanied by the network's Middle East correspondent Greg Palkot.
that his soldiers used chemical weapons . 'The declared that an attack . involving sarin gas did that the attack occurred- saying that 'it's Syrian President has approved with Western said that . they clearly do since they have palace in Damascus . 'It's not a secret anymore,' because of terrorists and bombs,’ he said. 'We other countries and the large majority of them- against Syria. 'We never looked at the United because they're the greatest country in the will be put into effect. 'We want to fully victims from the August 21 attack, but in today's