ORLANDO, Fla. — President Barack Obama would be “dead wrong” to order a military strike against Syria, billionaire political activist David Koch said Friday.

In an exclusive interview with Yahoo News, Koch, who finances several conservative and libertarian political causes, warned that attacking the country would harm the United States' image in the region.

“I do not think we should get involved in attacks on Syria. It’s like putting your head into a hornet’s nest,” Koch told Yahoo News at a conference sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group he backs financially. “You’re going to get shot at from all directions. There’s all this talk about attacking the bad guys in Syria, but whom do you attack? Where do you find the people who put these chemical weapons together, this poisonous gas? To me it’s an impossibility, and we’re just going to generate a huge increase in the hostility to the United States in my opinion.”

The White House has signaled that Obama is still open to launching a “limited” strike against Syria after reports suggested that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime was responsible for a chemical gas attack that left hundreds of Syrians, including children, dead.

On Thursday, the British Parliament rejected a resolution to join in launching an attack. In the United States, some lawmakers are calling on Obama to seek approval from Congress.

Koch said that the type of strike the United States is considering should require a congressional vote.

“If they’re going to do it, there should be a declaration of war debated by Congress in my opinion,” Koch told Yahoo News. “That’s what we’re getting into here, which I think is dead wrong.”