American reporter Marie Colvin, who was killed in a bombing of a rebel district in Syria in 2012, was "responsible" for her own death, says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Colvin, who was working for the British newspaper the Sunday Times, was killed during a bombardment of the Baba Amr district of Homs.
In an interview with NBC News in Damascus, Assad said Colvin bore responsibility for her own death because she had entered Syria illegally and had been working with "terrorists."
"It's a war and she came illegally to Syria. She worked with the terrorists, and because she came illegally, she's been responsible of everything that befall on her," Assad told NBC, speaking in English.
Assad, however, denied that government forces had targeted her and French photographer Remi Ochlik, who was killed in the same attack.
"The army forces didn't know that Marie Colvin existed somewhere," Assad said.
"No one has any evidence. This is just allegations," he said, adding that "hundreds" of reporters had come to Syria "legally and illegally."
Earlier this week Colvin's relatives filed a lawsuit in a US court against Assad, alleging his government targeted her to stop her from covering atrocities in the war.
The lawsuit says Assad government officials conspired "to surveil, target and ultimately kill civilian journalists in order to silence local and international media as part of its effort to crush political opposition."
Colvin, 56, was a longtime war correspondent and had covered many of the world's deadliest conflicts since the 1980s.
