Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has given a television interview in which he denies his forces used chemical weapons in an attack in Damascus last month.
The United States accuses Mr Assad's forces of killing 1429 people in the attack, 426 of them children.
The Syrian leader recorded an interview on Sunday with United States interviewer Charlie Rose. The interview will be broadcast on both the PBS and CBS networks on Monday.
In the interview, Mr Assad has reportedly denied any link to the attack.
PBS says he also suggested there would be some kind of retaliation if a strike against Syria were made.
United States Secretary of State John Kerry has rejected Mr Assad's denial, citing US intelligence reports two weeks ago that showed Syrian military units had been told to prepare for strikes and that the regime's chemical weapons personnel were on the ground in the area several days earlier, Reuters reports.
The interview came as Mr Kerry met with Arab League foreign ministers in Paris.
Following the meeting, Mr Kerry said the chemical attack had crossed a "global red line".
He said a US-led military strike against Syria would only be aimed at enforcing what he called international standards regarding the use of chemical weapons, the BBC reports.
Mr Kerry says Washington does not want to take part in Syria's civil war, which he says needs a political solution not a military one.
The White House has also said incontrovertible evidence is not needed to support its stand that Syria's armed forces have used chemical weapons against their own people, the BBC says.
President Barack Obama wants Congress to approve limited military action against the Syrian regime in response to the attack.
Debate could begin in the full Senate this week, with voting as early as Wednesday.
Mr Obama's chief of staff, Dennis McDonough, says the job for Congress is clear because common sense dictates that the Syrian government was responsible for the attack.
Maaloula falls to opposition
There are reports that rebel forces have taken control of the historic Christian town of Maaloula, 55km north of Damascus.
The British-based opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Islamist militants from the Nusra Front and other rebels took control after several days of fighting.
