President Asad on 7 October described the Israeli government as a body that cannot survive without war. 'This government is one of war, and war is the justification for its existence,' he told London daily Al-Hayat. In his first comments since the 5 October air raid by Israel on Syria, Asad described the attack as an 'attempt by the Israeli government to extract itself from its big crisis by trying to terrorise Syria and drag it and the region into other wars'. Asad vowed that Syria would stand up to acts of aggression, and insisted that Israel's raid would strengthen the country's position in the region.