FSA Echoes Syria Chemical Arms Warning
The rebel Free Syrian Army head has echoed fears that President Bashar Assad might resort to using chemical weapons to try to rescue his embattled regime, Al-Bayan newspaper reported on Wednesday.
"We are seeking to secure protective gas masks for civilians and (defected) soldiers ... after the regime moved some out of storage," Colonel Riad Assaad told the Dubai daily.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that intelligence reports suggested some chemical weapons were on the move, but the reasons for the transfers were unclear.
It said some U.S. officials feared the weapons could be used against rebels or civilians, while others believed the material was being deliberately hidden from armed opposition groups or Western powers.
Assaad alleged that the regime has already used poison gas in rebel strongholds.
"We have information regime forces have already used poison gas in some areas such as Rastan," in Homs province, and Daraa, cradle of the uprising, "as people there suffered burns when hit by these weapons," he said.
"Right from the beginning of the revolt, we were sure the regime will use all the power and arsenal it has" to crush the uprising which started in March 2011 and has cost more than 17,000 people dead, according to rights groups.
On Monday, Nawaf Fares, who defected from his post as Syrian ambassador to Iraq, issued a similar warning in an interview with the BBC.
"I am convinced that if Bashar Assad's regime is further cornered by the people -- he would use such weapons," said Fares. "There is information, unconfirmed information, that chemical weapons have been used in Homs."
Syria has the "biggest chemical weapons arsenal in the world," according to Israel's deputy chief of the general staff, Major General Yair Naveh. Israel has voiced concern about what will happen to them if the Damascus regime falls.
Source: Agence France Presse
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