Obama Warns Syria’s Assad That Use Of Chemical Weapons Would Be ‘Totally Unacceptable’
According to NBC News, President Barack Obama recently warned Syrian President Bashar Assad that the use of chemical weapons by the regime would be “totally unacceptable.”
Obama said:
“The world is watching. 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.”
U.S. officials told NBC News that the Syrian regime had ordered Syria’s military chemical corp to “be prepared.”
U.S. officials stressed that the directive was not an order to use chemical weapons. They also said that it did not come from Assad directly. However, that order and a considerable increase in activity around Syria’s chemical weapons sites have raised serious concerns.
Syrian state television reported that the Syrian Foreign Ministry denied that the country had any plans to use chemical weapons, no matter the circumstances.
The U.S. officials said the fear is that Syrians are at least preparing to mix the precursor chemicals for sarin nerve gas that could be used in artillery shells. That is only a fear right now, there is no evidence of that actually happening though.
Once the precursors are mixed, the sarin produced has a relatively short shelf life. In artillery shells, the precursors are packed separately inside the shells and “mixed” immediately before or shortly after the shells are fired.
Despite Obama’s warning that if Syria uses chemical weapons, “there will be consequences,” U.S. military forces have not been put on alert or given warning orders to prepare for any possible military action against Syria.
They have not been given any orders because, according to a senior U.S. official, there are “plenty of assets in the region which could respond quickly.”
Earlier, the State Department said that the “use or proliferation of chemical weapons” in Syria is a red line for the United States and would result in the administration’s taking “necessary steps or actions.”
Spokesman Mark Toner said:
“We are concerned about any move that might signal that they are somehow ready to use those chemical weapons on their own people.”
When asked if the chemical weapon stockpiles are secure, Toner said that the United States is monitoring them, but “it is hard to say, in Syria today, that any stockpile of weapons is secure.”
A senior State Department official said that the U.S. is talking to the rebels fighting against the Assad regime about how they should secure chemical weapons that may come into their possession.
A senior U.S. defense official said Monday that the United States and allied intelligence have detected Syrian movement of chemical weapons components in recent days.
White House press secretary Jay Carney said that “the world is watching” Assad and said he’ll be held accountable for his actions. Carney declined to say what exactly the U.S. contingency plans involve.
