West warns of Syrian chemical weapons
Source: Agencies |
September 4, 2012, Tuesday
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WESTERN powers are preparing a tough response in case Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime deploys chemical or biological weapons in its civil war, France's foreign minister said yesterday.
Syria's leadership has said the country, which is believed to have nerve agents as well as mustard gas and Scud missiles capable of delivering them, could use chemical or biological weapons if it were attacked from outside.
If Syria uses such weapons, "our response ... would be massive and blistering," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on RMC radio yesterday.
Fabius said Western countries are monitoring the movement of the weapons in Syria to be ready to "step in" immediately.
Fabius said "we are discussing this notably with our American and English partners." He added that Russia and China are "of the same position," but did not elaborate.
Since the start of the Syrian conflict, China has been consistent in its stance that it should be settled through negotiations and not by outside forces.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said recently that Russia has the Syrian government's assurances that chemical weapons will not be used.
Gatilov said Russia will "work toward the goal of preventing such things from happening."
The opposition has urged outside military help against Assad's armed forces.
"I am going to be very clear, we are requesting military intervention in order to protect Syrian civilians who have been constantly murdered over the last year and a half," the head of the Syrian National Council, Abdelbaset Sieda, said in Madrid yesterday.
The new UN envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, acknowledged on BBC TV yesterday that brokering an end to the civil war is a "very, very difficult task."
Syria says Brahimi could only make headway if outside countries ceased helping rebels and instead declared support for a UN-backed peace plan.
"The conditions for success for Lakhdar Brahimi in his mission is for specific countries - Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey - to announce their commitment to the six-point plan and completely stop sending weapons (to rebels) and close borders to fighters and close fighter training camps," Syrian Information Minister Omran Zoabi told a news conference in Damascus yesterday.
"The ball is not in the Syrian court, the ball is in the Saudi, Qatari, Turkish, European and US court," he said.
Syria's leadership has said the country, which is believed to have nerve agents as well as mustard gas and Scud missiles capable of delivering them, could use chemical or biological weapons if it were attacked from outside.
If Syria uses such weapons, "our response ... would be massive and blistering," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on RMC radio yesterday.
Fabius said Western countries are monitoring the movement of the weapons in Syria to be ready to "step in" immediately.
Fabius said "we are discussing this notably with our American and English partners." He added that Russia and China are "of the same position," but did not elaborate.
Since the start of the Syrian conflict, China has been consistent in its stance that it should be settled through negotiations and not by outside forces.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said recently that Russia has the Syrian government's assurances that chemical weapons will not be used.
Gatilov said Russia will "work toward the goal of preventing such things from happening."
The opposition has urged outside military help against Assad's armed forces.
"I am going to be very clear, we are requesting military intervention in order to protect Syrian civilians who have been constantly murdered over the last year and a half," the head of the Syrian National Council, Abdelbaset Sieda, said in Madrid yesterday.
The new UN envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, acknowledged on BBC TV yesterday that brokering an end to the civil war is a "very, very difficult task."
Syria says Brahimi could only make headway if outside countries ceased helping rebels and instead declared support for a UN-backed peace plan.
"The conditions for success for Lakhdar Brahimi in his mission is for specific countries - Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey - to announce their commitment to the six-point plan and completely stop sending weapons (to rebels) and close borders to fighters and close fighter training camps," Syrian Information Minister Omran Zoabi told a news conference in Damascus yesterday.
"The ball is not in the Syrian court, the ball is in the Saudi, Qatari, Turkish, European and US court," he said.
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