Syria's President Bashar al-Assad speaks during an interview with AFP news agency in Damascus, Syria in this handout picture provided by SANA on April 13, 2017. SANA/Handout via REUTERS

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in a Venezuelan television interview broadcast on Thursday that Israeli military strikes on his army showed Israel was “supporting terrorists” in Syria, state-run Syrian media reported.

Assad did not directly refer to the Israeli air strikes near Damascus airport early on Thursday and Syria’s official SANA news agency, which carried quotes from the interview with Venezuela’s Telesur channel, did not say when it was recorded.