The Syrian president has sharply blasted Israel for a new law that forces non-Jewish people to take an oath of allegiance to Israel as a "Jewish state."
"The decision... expresses the Israeli fascism that appears in the killing and such decisions," Bashar al-Assad said on Monday.
He also criticized Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for hindering talks between Damascus and Tel Aviv.
"The Arab side really wants the peace process and the Israeli side is working in the opposite direction," Assad said.