Syria warned against chemical arguments

The world's media recently reported that the regime of Bashar al-Assad was preparing to use chemical weapons against the rebels. Most news agencies cited the information of the U.S. intelligence. As reported by NBC, bombs are already stuffed with sarin and await loading onto fighters. The next step could be the use of chemical weapons against the rebels. To enable this, Syrian military only needs to obtain an appropriate order, American journalists believe.

The U.S. intelligence reported that military warehouses may contain large quantities of sarin, a powerful colorless and odorless nerve gas. Experts warn that Syrian laboratories can produce up to 250 tons of sarin.

The intelligence reports published in Western press were accompanied by commentary of politicians and military. NATO Secretary General Rasmussen said that the reaction of the world community to the possible use of chemical weapons by Syria would follow immediately. U.S. President Barack Obama made a statement on Monday at a conference at the National Defense University in Washington. He said that he wanted Bashar al-Assad and those who obeyed him to know that the world was watching their actions. Use of chemical weapons was unacceptable, and the one who would make a fatal mistake of bringing it into effect would bear the responsibility.

Jerusalem has the biggest concerns about the possible transfer of Syrian arm arsenals. Israel is interested in neutralizing stockpiles of chemical weapons so they do not fall into the hands of "Hezbollah" or some other terrorist group that may use them for terrorist attacks. The country has at least four centers of production of chemical warfare agents - in Aleppo, Hama, Homs and Latakia. Syria has bombs and ballistic missiles with chemical filling. The Syrian army has "Scud" units, purchased from North Korea that do not have high accuracy.

Sarin, along with mustard gas, was used by the army of Saddam Hussein against the Kurds in 1988. Then, in a gas attack at the town of Halabja, at least three thousand people were killed, many of them women and children.

Damascus categorically denied the reports that the government forces were going to use poison gas in a final argument against the rebels who continue to shoot down aircraft and seize bases. Observers noted that the use of chemical weapons would inevitably entail the most serious consequences for the ruling Syrian regime. How likely is it that the Syrian leader would chose such a desperate act? President Bashar Assad is not interested in the remnants of his army defeated by the international coalition of countries that have already given Damascus the last warning. In military terms, the use of chemical weapons can produce only a limited effect. According to some analysts, the hype around the chemical arsenals of the Syrian army was artificially inflated by Western media that continue to set the stage for a military solution to the Syrian conflict. In turn, a Russian expert on chemical weapons Natalia Kalinina earlier expressed belief that use of such weapons in Syria was impossible. "To use this weapon, it must be prepared - placed in artillery shells and so on. In the current situation it is impossible, that is, it is hardly likely that Assad would use chemical weapons, " Newsru.com quoted Natalia Kalinina.  

Chemical weapons in a container (as suggested by an expert, it is mostly barrels) can be poured, sprayed or dispersed from aircraft. In any case, the effect would be limited to a fairly narrow range, although would cause resonance, as any act of terrorism." As for military use, according to all rules of war, I think it is impossible to apply," summarized the expert. However, the situation is getting aggravated, and Western countries may use the presence of Assad's chemical weapons as a pretext to invade the country, reported portal Newsru. com in August of 2012, when President Obama made another warning to Syria.

Russia, on its part, considers any use of chemical warfare agents against civilians by the Assad regime unacceptable. However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called reports on the transfer of chemical weapons by the Syrian army that emerged earlier rumors. "The issue of transfer, use, and especially application of weapons of mass destruction, which chemical weapons are, is very serious. A breach of any relevant international agreements s is absolutely unacceptable for us ", Interfax quoted Lavrov after a meeting between Russia and NATO in Brussels. "At the slightest appearance of such rumors, such information, we take very hard demarches, check this information, and every time we get assurances that there are no such plans and there cannot be such plans,"   said Sergey Lavrov.

Yuri Sosinsky-Semikhat

Pravda.Ru 

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