Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said any repercussions if the US targets Syria with military strikes "may take different forms," including "direct and indirect" effects.
He was speaking in an interview with CBS News.
Mr Assad said that in addition to direct responses, indirect impacts could include "instability and the spread of terrorism all over the region that will influence the West directly."
"We have to expect the worst," Mr Assad added in the interview.
The president, who said Syria opposes the use of chemical weapons, also said that any strikes would boost the al-Qaeda offshoot in his country. "It's going to be direct support," he said.
The Russian and Syrian foreign ministers have urged the United States to focus on convening a peace conference to end more than two years of conflict instead of taking military action against Damascus.
After talks between the countries' ministers in Moscow, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem suggested an alleged chemical attack was a pretext to encourage military intervention.
"We are in Moscow at a time when the war drums are being beaten, the war drums of the government of the United States," he said.
Mr Moualem questioned US motives in Syria and accused President Barack Obama of backing Islamist extremists, apparently drawing comparisons with the attacks on the US on 11 September 2001.
"We are asking ourselves how Obama can ... support those who in their time blew up the World Trade Center in New York."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, whose country says it believes the attack was carried out by rebels, warned that US strikes on Syria could lead to the spread of terrorism.
Speaking today, US Secretary of State John Kerry said that Syria could prevent a military attack if President Bashar al-Assad handed over all his chemical weapons to the international community within the next week.
When asked by a reporter whether there was anything Mr Assad's government could do or offer to stop an attack, Mr Kerry said: "Sure, he could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week - turn it over, all of it without delay and allow the full and total accounting [of it] but he isn't about to do it and it can't be done."
Mr Kerry was in London for talks with Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague.
During a news conference, Mr Kerry also stressed the relationship between Britain and the US was as strong as ever despite the British parliament having decided not to join military action against Syria.
President Obama prepares for TV address
Meanwhile, President Obama is to make a concerted effort this week to win support from Congress and the wider American public for military action against Syria.
He will conduct a round of television interviews today and make a televised address from the White House tomorrow.
White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough suggested that the speech will repeat points Mr Obama has already made several times.
"What he'll tell the country is what this is, which is a targeted, limited, consequential" use of military force, Mr McDonough said.
"He'll also tell the country what this is not. This is not Iraq. This is not Afghanistan. This is not an extended air campaign like Libya."
The Republican Chairman of the House intelligence committee has said White House efforts to convince Congress to back military action against Syria are failing.
Mike Rogers told CBS's Face the Nation that the White House had made a "confusing mess" of the Syria issue.
Congress will be in session today for the first time since the August recess.
Debate on Syria could begin in the full Senate this week, with voting as early as Wednesday.
The House of Representatives could take up the issue later this week or next.
In an interview with a US television network to be broadcast later today, Mr Assad denied ever using chemical weapons.
He said if the US has evidence to the contrary, it should produce it.
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