Arab foreign ministers call on Assad to step down, offer safe exit
BEIRUT: Syria acknowledged for the first time on Monday that it had chemical and biological weapons and said it could use them if foreign countries intervened.
International pressure on President Bashar al-Assad has escalated dramatically in the last week, alongside a rebel offensive in the two biggest cities and a bomb attack which killed four members of his inner circle in Damascus.
Defying Arab foreign ministers who on Sunday offered Assad a safe exit if he stepped down, the Syrian leader has launched fierce counter-offensives, reflecting his determination to keep power as a 16-month uprising enters its most violent phase.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said the army would not use chemical weapons to crush rebels but could use them against forces from outside the country.
Any chemical or bacterial weapons will never be used ... during the crisis in Syria regardless of the developments,� Makdissi said. Damascus has not signed a 1992 international convention that bans the use, production or stockpiling of chemical weapons, but officials in the past had denied it had any stockpiles. Western countries expressed immediate alarm.
Given the escalation of violence in Syria, and the regimes increasing attacks on their people, we remain very concerned about these weapons, White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said it was a complete illusion that Syria faced any external threat and it was unacceptable to say it might use chemical weapons in any circumstances.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said it was outrageous to threaten to use chemical weapons and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was very concerned Syria may be tempted to use unconventional weapons.
Western and countries and Israel have also expressed fears chemical weapons could fall into the hands of militant groups as Assads authority erodes. Israel has publicly discussed military action to prevent Syrian chemical weapons or missiles from reaching Assads Lebanese Shia militant allies Hezbollah.
The Global Security website, which collects published intelligence reports and other data, says there are four suspected chemical weapons sites in Syria: north of Damascus, near Homs, in Hama and near the Mediterranean port of Latakia. Weapons it produces include the nerve agents VX, sarin and tabun, it said, without citing its sources.
Abdelbasset Seida, head of the Syrian National Council opposition group, said: A regime that massacres children and rapes women could use these types of weapons.
The technical infrastructure may not be suitable, but as I said, such a step could be expected from this murderous regime. The international community must prevent this, he told reporters after meeting Turkeys foreign minister in Ankara.
Arab League ministers meeting in Doha urged the opposition and the rebel Free Syrian Army to form a transitional government, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani told a news conference.
Makdissi rejected the call for Assad to step down as a flagrant intervention in Syrias internal affairs. We regret that the Arab League stooped to this immoral level, he said.
On Monday the army shelled rebel forces in the northern city of Aleppo and stormed the southern Damascus neighbourhood of Nahr Aisha, breaking into shops and houses and burning some of them, activists said.
Video showed dozens of men in green army fatigues massing in the neighbourhood, which looked completely abandoned. Men carrying machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers knocked and then kicked down doors and climbed through windows.
Assads forces have reasserted control over several Damascus areas since they seized back the central Midan district on Friday, 48 hours after a bomb attack killed four of Assads closest security officials.
The regime strategy is to continue to confront the opposition, this time with much broader military response, said Ayham Kamel, Middle East analyst at Eurasia Group consultancy.
The expectation that the regime is out of firepower or collapsing right now is misplaced.
But Assads forces have lost ground outside cities, ceding control of four border posts on the Turkish and Iraqi borders.
Rebels also seized an army infantry school in the town of Musalmiyeh, 16 km (10 miles) north of Aleppo, and captured several loyalist officers, while others defected, a senior military defector in Turkey and rebel sources inside Syria said.
Sky Television footage from the town of Azaz close to the border with Turkey showed rebel fighters parading through streets firing triumphantly after a prolonged battle with government forces. It also showed a burned-out tank and remains of what it said was a government intelligence headquarters.
In Aleppo, activists said thousands of residents fled the rebel-held districts of Al-Haideriya, Hanano and Sakhour after army shelling and clashes between rebels and government forces in which activists said three government tanks were destroyed.
The fighting in Damascus, Aleppo and the eastern city of Deir al-Zor has been some of the fiercest yet and showed Assads determination to avenge last Wednesdays bomb attack, the most spectacular blow in a 16-month-old uprising against four decades of rule by the Assad family.
Activists reported clashes on Monday in the Damascus districts of Qadam and Kafr Sousseh, but opposition and rebel sources say the guerrilla fighters in the capital may lack the supply lines to remain there for long and may have to make tactical withdrawals
BEIRUT: Syria acknowledged for the first time on Monday that it had chemical and biological weapons and said it could use them if foreign countries intervened.
International pressure on President Bashar al-Assad has escalated dramatically in the last week, alongside a rebel offensive in the two biggest cities and a bomb attack which killed four members of his inner circle in Damascus.
Defying Arab foreign ministers who on Sunday offered Assad a safe exit if he stepped down, the Syrian leader has launched fierce counter-offensives, reflecting his determination to keep power as a 16-month uprising enters its most violent phase.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said the army would not use chemical weapons to crush rebels but could use them against forces from outside the country.
Any chemical or bacterial weapons will never be used ... during the crisis in Syria regardless of the developments,� Makdissi said. Damascus has not signed a 1992 international convention that bans the use, production or stockpiling of chemical weapons, but officials in the past had denied it had any stockpiles. Western countries expressed immediate alarm.
Given the escalation of violence in Syria, and the regimes increasing attacks on their people, we remain very concerned about these weapons, White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said it was a complete illusion that Syria faced any external threat and it was unacceptable to say it might use chemical weapons in any circumstances.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said it was outrageous to threaten to use chemical weapons and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was very concerned Syria may be tempted to use unconventional weapons.
Western and countries and Israel have also expressed fears chemical weapons could fall into the hands of militant groups as Assads authority erodes. Israel has publicly discussed military action to prevent Syrian chemical weapons or missiles from reaching Assads Lebanese Shia militant allies Hezbollah.
The Global Security website, which collects published intelligence reports and other data, says there are four suspected chemical weapons sites in Syria: north of Damascus, near Homs, in Hama and near the Mediterranean port of Latakia. Weapons it produces include the nerve agents VX, sarin and tabun, it said, without citing its sources.
Abdelbasset Seida, head of the Syrian National Council opposition group, said: A regime that massacres children and rapes women could use these types of weapons.
The technical infrastructure may not be suitable, but as I said, such a step could be expected from this murderous regime. The international community must prevent this, he told reporters after meeting Turkeys foreign minister in Ankara.
Arab League ministers meeting in Doha urged the opposition and the rebel Free Syrian Army to form a transitional government, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani told a news conference.
Makdissi rejected the call for Assad to step down as a flagrant intervention in Syrias internal affairs. We regret that the Arab League stooped to this immoral level, he said.
On Monday the army shelled rebel forces in the northern city of Aleppo and stormed the southern Damascus neighbourhood of Nahr Aisha, breaking into shops and houses and burning some of them, activists said.
Video showed dozens of men in green army fatigues massing in the neighbourhood, which looked completely abandoned. Men carrying machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers knocked and then kicked down doors and climbed through windows.
Assads forces have reasserted control over several Damascus areas since they seized back the central Midan district on Friday, 48 hours after a bomb attack killed four of Assads closest security officials.
The regime strategy is to continue to confront the opposition, this time with much broader military response, said Ayham Kamel, Middle East analyst at Eurasia Group consultancy.
The expectation that the regime is out of firepower or collapsing right now is misplaced.
But Assads forces have lost ground outside cities, ceding control of four border posts on the Turkish and Iraqi borders.
Rebels also seized an army infantry school in the town of Musalmiyeh, 16 km (10 miles) north of Aleppo, and captured several loyalist officers, while others defected, a senior military defector in Turkey and rebel sources inside Syria said.
Sky Television footage from the town of Azaz close to the border with Turkey showed rebel fighters parading through streets firing triumphantly after a prolonged battle with government forces. It also showed a burned-out tank and remains of what it said was a government intelligence headquarters.
In Aleppo, activists said thousands of residents fled the rebel-held districts of Al-Haideriya, Hanano and Sakhour after army shelling and clashes between rebels and government forces in which activists said three government tanks were destroyed.
The fighting in Damascus, Aleppo and the eastern city of Deir al-Zor has been some of the fiercest yet and showed Assads determination to avenge last Wednesdays bomb attack, the most spectacular blow in a 16-month-old uprising against four decades of rule by the Assad family.
Activists reported clashes on Monday in the Damascus districts of Qadam and Kafr Sousseh, but opposition and rebel sources say the guerrilla fighters in the capital may lack the supply lines to remain there for long and may have to make tactical withdrawals
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