Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says Damascus will defend itself against any aggression, amid the escalating Western war rhetoric against the Arab country.

President Assad made the remarks on Thursday while receiving a delegation of Yemeni politicians in the Syrian capital, Damascus, Syria's state television said.

"Syria will defend itself in the face of any aggression, and threats will only increase its commitment to its principles and its independence," Assad said.

The Syrian president also noted that Syria is determined to crush the Israeli-backed terrorists operating against his government.

“Syria, with its resistant people and valiant army, is determined to wipe out terrorism which is being backed by Israel and Western nations to serve their own purposes of sowing division in the region, fragmenting its people and forcing them into submission,” he added.

Earlier in the day, the Lebanese Al-Akhbar newspaper quoted Assad as saying that Damascus will emerge “victorious” in any possible military confrontation with the United States and its allies.

The US and other western countries have adopted the rhetoric of war against Syria over allegations that the Syrian government was behind a chemical attack near Damascus.

The call for military strike intensified after the militants operating inside Syria and the foreign-backed Syrian opposition claimed on August 21 that hundreds had been killed in a government chemical attack on militant strongholds in the Damascus suburbs of Ain Tarma, Zamalka and Jobar. Syria has categorically rejected the claim as a false flag operation.

Source: presstv