Syrian President Bashar Assad said Thursday some of the 4.8 million who have fled the six-year-old civil war in his country are "definitely" terrorists.
"You can find it on the Net," Assad told Yahoo News in an interview that was recorded by the presidential press office. "Those terrorists in Syria, holding the machine gun or killing people, they [appear as] peaceful refugees in Europe or in the West."
Yahoo said "no editorial changes were made to the content" of the interview, which would be released in full Friday.
However, Assad could not estimate how many of the refugees were terrorists — but he added "you don't need a significant number to commit atrocities."
The 9/11 attacks in the United States were carried out by 15 terrorists "out of maybe millions of immigrants in the United States," Assad said.
"So, it's not about the number. It's about the quality. It's about the intentions."
Nearly a half-million people have been killed since the civil war began in Syria six years ago, a cease-fire sponsored by Russia and Turkey has been in place since Dec. 30.
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