Assad warns Europe of 'paying the price' if it arms Syrian rebels

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warned that Europe will 'pay the price' if it delivered arms to rebel forces in the country.

In an interview with a German newspaper, he said that if the Europeans delivered weapons, the backyard of Europe would become terrorist, and Europe would pay the price for it.

According to the Independent, in the interview published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Tuesday, he also warned that delivering arms would result in the direct export of terrorism to Europe.

Assad was commenting for the first time since the United States announced that they would be supplying military aid to rebels fighting to overthrow Assad.

The threats from Assad come as Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama prepare for a meeting later at the G8 summit, where disagreement over the Syrian civil war has stolen focus from the rest of the agenda, the report said.

Syria's civil war, now in its third year, has killed more than 90,000 according to the UN and displaced more than one million.