The Times of Israel reports: Syrian President Bashar Assad denied Russia coordinated or even knew in advance about reported Israeli strikes inside his country and downplayed Moscow’s role in determining Iran’s presence there, in an interview published Sunday.

“Russia never coordinated with anyone against Syria, either politically or militarily, and that’s contradiction; how could they help the Syrian Army advancing and at the same time work with our enemies in order to destroy our army,” Assad told the British Daily Mail newspaper.

When pressed on whether Russia knew in advance of airstrikes carried out by Israel, Assad responded “that’s not true, that’s not true, definitely. We know the details.”

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