Israel's attack on the Gaza aid ship has increased the chances of war in the Middle East, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has told the BBC.

叙利亚总统阿萨德向BBC透露，以色列对加沙救援船只的袭击增加了中东地区战乱的可能性。

He said Syria was working to prevent a regional war, but there was no chance of a peace deal with the current Israeli administration, which he called a "pyromaniac¹（防火狂的） government".

Mr Assad also rejected claims he was arming Hezbollah in Lebanon.

He said that Middle East was going through a period of momentous²（重要的，重大的） change.

He has the air of a man who thinks matters are going his way, even though he shares the common Middle Eastern view that the region is getting more dangerous.

Mr Assad said the Israeli attack on the Free Gaza flotilla（小型船队） that killed nine Turkish activists³ was having serious consequences.

"[It has] destroyed any chance for peace in the near future," he told the BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen.

"Mainly because it proved that this government is another pyromaniac government, and you cannot achieve peace with such [a] government."

Mr Assad denied that he was sending weapons to the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon.

Our Middle East editor says Israel, the US and Britain are convinced not only that he is, but they say he is also sending bigger, better and more accurate ones than before.

He seems in no mood（没有心情） to respond to American attempts to woo him away from Syria's long term strategic alliance with Iran.

He said he is happy to do business with the United States. But Iran would stay an ally.