Barack Obama warns Syria of chemical weapons ‘consequences’
Worldwide, Daily news | ankakh | December 4, 2012 20:00
Barack Obama has warned the Syrian regime that any use of chemical weapons on its own people would be “totally unacceptable” and would result in “consequences”.
In strongly worded remarks (video) directed at President Bashar al-Assad, the US president said “the world is watching” and would act if the authorities escalated the conflict through the use of chemical warfare.
Intelligence reports suggest sensitive chemical weapons parts have been moved around the country in recent days. This has raised fears that the regime is considering unleashing chemical weapons = on opposition forces.
Obama told a gathering of nuclear proliferation experts in Washington: “The use of chemical weapons is, and would be, totally unacceptable and if you make the tragic mistake of using these weapons, there will be consequences and you will be held accountable.”
Obama did not outline what consequences would be taken.
His words echoed a similar warning to Damascus from the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton: “I am not going to telegraph any specifics what we do in the event of credible evidence that the Assad regime has resorted to using chemical weapons against their own people, but suffice to say we are certainly planning to take action if that eventuality were to occur.”
CNN reported that Syrian forces had started to combine chemicals to make deadly sarin gas which it could deploy against anti-government fighters. The network cited an unnamed US official as the source of its report.
Damascus has denied the suggestion that it would resort to chemical warfare. “Syria has stressed repeatedly that it will not use these types of weapons, if they were available, under any circumstances against its people,” the foreign ministry said on Monday.
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