Washington: The White House and its allies are weighing military options to secure Syria's chemical and biological weapons, after US intelligence reports show the Syrian regime may be readying those weapons and may be desperate enough to use them, US officials said.
President Barack Obama warned Syrian President Bashar Assad not to use his arsenal. "Today I want to make it absolutely clear to Assad and those under his command: The world is watching," Obama said. "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."
The warnings to Syria come after US intelligence detected signs the Syrian regime was moving the chemical weapons components within several of Syria's chemical weapons sites in recent days, according to US officials. The activities involved movement within the sites, rather than the transfer of components in or out of various sites, two of the officials said. The US still doesn't know whether the regime is planning to use them, but the official says there is greater concern because there is the sense that the Assad regime is under greater pressure now.
Another senior US official described it as "indications of preparations" for a possible use of the chemical weapons. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about intelligence matters.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the United States is planning to take action if the need arises but did not outline any specifics. Options now being considered range from aerial strikes to limited raids by regional forces to secure the stockpiles, according to one current US official, and one former US official, briefed on the matter.
US intelligence officials also intercepted one communication within the last six months they believe was between Iran's infamous Quds Force, urging Syrian regime members to use its supplies of toxic Sarin gas against rebels and the civilians supporting them in the besieged city of Homs, a former US official said. That report was not matched by other intelligence agencies, and other intelligence officials have said Iran also does not want the Syrians to use their chemical weapons.
The Assad regime, which does not admit to having these weapons, insists it would not use such weapons against Syrians. The regime is party to the 1925 Geneva Protocol banning chemical weapons in war.
But, the Syrian assurances did not placate the White House. "We are concerned that in an increasingly beleaguered regime, having found its escalation of violence through conventional means inadequate, might be considering the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people," said White House press secretary Jay Carney.
An administration official said the trigger for US action of some kind is the use of chemical weapons, or movement with the intent to use them, or the intent to provide them to a terrorist group like Hezbollah. The US is trying to determine whether the recent movement detected in Syria falls into any of those categories, the official said. The administration official was speaking on condition of anonymity because this person was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue.
Syria has some 75 sites where weapons are stored, but US officials aren't sure they have tracked down all the locations, and fear some stockpiles may have already been moved. Syria is believed to have several hundred ballistic surface-to-surface missiles capable of carrying chemical warheads, plus several tons of material stored in either large drums, or in artillery shells, which become deadly once fired.
"In Syria, they have everything from mustard agent, Sarin nerve gas, and some variant of the nerve agent VX," according to James Quinlivan, a Rand Corp. analyst who specializes in the elimination of weapons of mass destruction.
A primary argument against sending in US ground troops is that whoever takes possession of the chemical weapons will be responsible for destroying them, as part of the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention. Destroying Syria's stockpiles could cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and take more than a decade, Quinlivan said.
Syria's arsenal is a particular threat to the American allies, Turkey and Israel, and Obama singled out the threat posed by the unconventional weapons earlier this year as a potential cause for deeper US involvement in Syria's civil war. Up to now, the United States has opposed military intervention or providing arms support to Syria's rebels for fear of further militarizing a conflict that activists say has killed more than 40,000 people since March 2011.
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