US warns of military operation to secure Syrian chemical weapons ...

?We are certainly planning to take action if [chemical weapon use] were to occur,? US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Prague.

The White House has reportedly been mulling a wide range of measures from air strikes to targeted operations.

US President Barack Obama previously cautioned the Syrian government against the use of chemical weapons in its struggle against the opposition.

Obama warns Assad over chemical weapons

US President Barack Obama has warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad he will face "consequences" if he uses chemical weapons against his people. This comes amid a fresh wave of US intelligence reports suggesting that Syria is preparing its chemical weapons for deployment.

"The world is watching. The use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable," said Mr Obama.

He added that he wants to make it absolutely clear to ?Assad and those under his command? that if they ?make the tragic mistake of using these weapons?there will be consequences.

Earlier this day, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a similar ?strong warning? to the Syrian government reiterating the president?s declaration that the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people will be ?a red line for the United States.?

In response to the threats, the Syrian Foreign Ministry has issued a brief statement saying that Damascus will not use chemical weapons, ?if they were available, under any circumstances against its people.? The ministry also stressed that Syria has stated repeatedly that it ?will not use these types of weapons.?

Clinton warns Syria regime over chemical arms

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday warned the regime of Bashar al-Assad against any bid to unleash chemical weapons on the Syrian people, signalling that the United States would be prepared to take unspecified action.

"This is a red line for the United States," Clinton said after meeting Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, during which they talked about concerns over Syria's chemical weapons stockpile.

"Once again we issue a very strong warning to the Assad regime that their behaviour is reprehensible. Their actions against their own people have been tragic," she told a joint news conference with her Czech counterpart.

"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 that we're certainly planning to take action if that eventuality were to occur," the top US diplomat stressed.

Clinton's remarks came as The New York Times reported Monday that the Americans and Europeans had sent warnings via intermediaries to the Syrian regime after detecting movement of chemical weapons by the Syrian military in recent days.

Syria moving chemical weapons components

A U.S. defense official says international intelligence sources have detected that Syria has been moving chemical weapons components in recent days.

The official says U.S. and allied intelligence officials have detected activity around more than one of Syria's chemical weapons sites in the last week. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about intelligence matters.

He says officials don't believe any developments with the weapons are imminent but are trying to figure out what the Syrians are doing.

Syria says would not use chemical weapons against its people

Syria would not use chemical weapons, if it had them, against its own people, the foreign ministry said in a statement on state television on Monday.

"In response to the statements of the American secretary of state, who warned Syria against using chemical weapons, Syria has stressed repeatedly that it will not use these types of weapons, if they were available, under any circumstances against its people," the statement said.?

Voice of Russia, Interfax, BBC, AFP, RT, AP, Reuters

Source: http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_12_04/US-warns-of-military-operation-to-secure-Syrian-chemical-weps/

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