Israeli official: Assad used chemical arms
Source: Agencies |
April 24, 2013, Wednesday
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SYRIAN government forces have used chemical weapons - probably nerve gas - in their fight against rebels trying to force out President Bashar Assad, the Israeli military's top intelligence analyst said yesterday.
Brigadier-General Itai Brun made the comments at a Tel Aviv security conference a day after US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on a visit to Israel that US intelligence agencies were still assessing whether such weapons had been employed.
"To the best of our understanding, there was use of lethal chemical weapons. Which chemical weapons? Probably sarin," Brun said in the most definitive Israeli statement on the issue to date.
Brun's comments seemed likely to deepen international concern over events in Syria. US President Barack Obama has called the use of chemical weapons there a "red line" for the United States that would trigger unspecified US action.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said that NATO needed to consider how prepared it was to "respond to protect its members from a Syrian threat, including any potential chemical weapons threat."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could not confirm comments by the Israeli military's top intelligence analyst, Kerry said.
"I talked to Prime Minister Netanyahu this morning. I think it is fair for me to say that he was not in a position to confirm that in the conversation that I had," Kerry said yesterday.
"I don't know yet what the facts are."
Brun told the annual conference of The Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University that forces loyal to Assad were behind the attacks on "armed (rebels) on a number of occasions in the past few months, including the most reported incident on March 19."
The Syrian government and rebels last month accused each other of launching a chemical attack near the northern city of Aleppo.
Speaking with a Powerpoint presentation showing what appeared to be a wounded or dead child, Brun said that foam coming out of victims' mouths and contracted pupils and "other signs" indicated deadly gas had been used. He gave no other details about how Israel formed its assessment of gas attacks.
Ralf Trapp, an independent consultant on chemical and biological weapons arms control based in Geneva, said the symptoms described by Israeli intelligence were "consistent with sarin gas," but photographic evidence alone was not conclusive.
"There is a limit to what you can extract from photograph evidence alone," he said.
"What you really need is to get information from on the ground, to gather physical evidence and to talk to witnesses as well as medical staff who treated victims."
Brigadier-General Itai Brun made the comments at a Tel Aviv security conference a day after US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on a visit to Israel that US intelligence agencies were still assessing whether such weapons had been employed.
"To the best of our understanding, there was use of lethal chemical weapons. Which chemical weapons? Probably sarin," Brun said in the most definitive Israeli statement on the issue to date.
Brun's comments seemed likely to deepen international concern over events in Syria. US President Barack Obama has called the use of chemical weapons there a "red line" for the United States that would trigger unspecified US action.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said that NATO needed to consider how prepared it was to "respond to protect its members from a Syrian threat, including any potential chemical weapons threat."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could not confirm comments by the Israeli military's top intelligence analyst, Kerry said.
"I talked to Prime Minister Netanyahu this morning. I think it is fair for me to say that he was not in a position to confirm that in the conversation that I had," Kerry said yesterday.
"I don't know yet what the facts are."
Brun told the annual conference of The Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University that forces loyal to Assad were behind the attacks on "armed (rebels) on a number of occasions in the past few months, including the most reported incident on March 19."
The Syrian government and rebels last month accused each other of launching a chemical attack near the northern city of Aleppo.
Speaking with a Powerpoint presentation showing what appeared to be a wounded or dead child, Brun said that foam coming out of victims' mouths and contracted pupils and "other signs" indicated deadly gas had been used. He gave no other details about how Israel formed its assessment of gas attacks.
Ralf Trapp, an independent consultant on chemical and biological weapons arms control based in Geneva, said the symptoms described by Israeli intelligence were "consistent with sarin gas," but photographic evidence alone was not conclusive.
"There is a limit to what you can extract from photograph evidence alone," he said.
"What you really need is to get information from on the ground, to gather physical evidence and to talk to witnesses as well as medical staff who treated victims."
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