Fears grow that Assad regime will use chemical weapons

Damascus said it “would not use chemical weapons – if there are any – against its own people under any circumstances.” It has been careful never to confirm it has such weapons.

The past few weeks have seen government forces using cluster bombs and incendiary weapons in civilian areas, as the rebels increase their grip on large parts of the country and fight around Damascus itself.

A senior US defence source said intelligence agencies had detected activity around more than one of Syria’s chemical weapons sites in the past week.

Another source told the New York Times “the activity we are seeing suggests some potential chemical weapon preparation” beyond the mere movement of stockpiles among Syria’s several dozen known sites.

“It’s very hard to read Assad,” one senior Israeli official said. “But we are seeing a kind of action we’ve never seen before.”

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, in Prague for meetings with Czech officials, yesterday reiterated president Barack Obama’s declaration that Syrian action on chemical weapons was a “red line” for the US that would prompt action.

“We have made our views very clear: this is a red line for the United States,” Ms Clinton told reporters. “I’m not going to telegraph in any specifics what we would do in the event of credible evidence that the Assad regime has resorted to using chemical weapons against their own people. But suffice it to say, we are certainly planning to take action if that eventuality were to occur.”

Syria is believed to have several hundred ballistic surface-to-surface missiles capable of carrying chemical warheads.

Its arsenal is a particular threat to American allies Turkey and Israel. In its recent submission to Nato requesting deployment of the alliance’s Patriot  anti-missile missile batteries on its soil, Ankara identified the threat of such of weapons landing on Turkish territory.

Ms Clinton said that, while the actions of the Assad government had been deplorable, chemical weapons would bring them to a new level.

“We once again issue a very strong warning to the Assad regime that their behaviour is reprehensible, their actions against their own people have been tragic,” she said.

“But there is no doubt that there’s a line between even the horrors that they’ve already inflicted on the Syrian people and moving to what would be an internationally condemned step of utilising their chemical weapons.”

Although Syria is one of only seven nations that have not signed the Chemical Weapons Treaty, it is a party to the 1925 Geneva Protocol that bans the use of chemical weapons in war. It was signed in the aftermath of the First World War, when the effects of the use of mustard gas and other chemical agents outraged much of the world.

Meanwhile, the United Nations said yesterday it was suspending its aid operations in Syria and withdrawing all non-essential international staff due to the worsening security situation.

Up to 25 of about 100 foreign staff could leave this week, it said, adding more armoured vehicles were needed after attacks in recent weeks on humanitarian aid convoys and the hijacking of goods or vehicles.

In all, the UN deploys more than 1,000 national and international staff in Syria, but movement and communications have become more difficult due to intensified fighting near the capital and a 48-hour internet blackout last week, the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

Damascus had been considered “quite safe” until last week when the main airport was shut and flights into Syria cancelled after several attacks by rebels.