Ex-general warns of chemical weapons use the Assad regime

The civil war escalated in Syria the regime is tottering - and the warning signs that will soon be chemical weapons could be used, compress themselves. A Syrian general overflowed now confirmed reports that the government can move chemical weapons - for possible use as a retaliation for the killing of four high-ranking government officials . "The regime has begun to shift its chemical arsenal and distribute it to prepare for possible deployment," said Sheikh Mustafa told Reuters, citing findings of the rebel troops. The U.S. government had declared on Saturday, it was monitoring developments related to the chemical weapons arsenal and pursuing "active discussions" with Syria's neighbors about the safety of the agents. "We believe that chemical weapons are still under the control of the Syrian government," said Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the White House. But given the escalation of violence and attacks by the Syrian regime to Washington, his people remained "very concerned about these weapons." The rebels announced that they wanted to bring the Chemical Weapons of the Assad regime under their control. "We have a group to ensure the chemical weapons," said General Adnan Silou, a senior defector to open Syrian army, the British newspaper "Daily Telegraph". Silou, under the Assad himself was responsible for the weapons, spoke of two storage sites for toxic gas - one east of Damascus, Homs, a close.

"The regime wants to burn down the country"

The reports of movements of the Syrian chemical weapons arsenal have recently accumulated. The "New York Times" reported about the end of last week, citing U.S. officials that Syria had transferred part of his arsenal of chemical deposits. It is unclear whether the case raised a precautionary measure or to prepare for possible deployment. Andrew Tabler, Syria expert at the Institute for Near East Policy in Washington, said the "New York Times" that chemical weapons had been moved into the highly competitive area of ​​Homs. "It does not transport this stuff, if you're not forced to do," said Tabler. "The Assad regime loses control over its territory." General Sheikh now warns of dramatic language, against the chemical weapons used by the Syrian army. "The regime wants to burn down the country," said the officer. "It can not fall without causing a bloodbath." Sheikh, who had fled from Syria in January, says the coming days ahead of an intensification of the fighting."The next phase will bring bloodshed in the not-before seen scale, and the regime will fall back to non-conventional weapons." Similarly, Syria's former ambassador had been in Baghdad, Nawaf al-Fares expressed. He was convinced that Assad was ready to "wipe out the entire Syrian people" to remain in power. Should he continue to be pushed into a corner, he could also use chemical weapons.

Fear of chemical weapons proliferation after collapse of the regime

Such desperation of the regime is not the only concern of experts. Another danger is that the agents would fall into chaos after the collapse of the regime in the hands of extremists. The Israeli government is already preparing for such a scenario. Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he was closing a military intervention in Syria is not sufficient if the government in Damascus chemical weapons or missiles to the radical Islamic Hezbollah from Lebanon continue rich. He had instructed the military to prepare for such a development, Barak said on Friday the 10th TV station Channel At the moment the start of the fall of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that Israel would press ahead with the observation by intelligence agencies and cooperate with other services. In addition to Hezbollah would also be the terrorist network al-Qaeda operating in Syria. In mid-May, in Damascus, where two massive bomb attacks, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon suspected Qaeda terrorists among the masterminds. The network has repeatedly called upon to participate in the fight against the Assad regime.

Massive arsenal in Assad's hands

The Syrian chemical weapons arsenal is one of the largest in the world. According to Western military experts and intelligence services has Damascus on substances such as mustard gas, sarin and VX. Mustard gas was first used in World War II by the Germans caused severe skin damage. Sarin can be run including blurred vision, convulsions, vomiting and unconsciousness and respiratory paralysis over a death. The most dangerous weapon in the Syrian arsenal, however, is VX. The nerve poison even in small amounts leads to severe pain and paralysis of respiratory muscles, and death occurs within minutes. In addition, Western intelligence agencies have long harbor the suspicion that Syria also possess biological warfare agents like anthrax, botulinum toxin and ricin. Whether they are present but in a form capable weapon is questionable. It is certain, however, that Syria has a variety of weapons systems with chemical warfare agents. Among them, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), hundreds of Scud missiles with a range of up to 450 kilometers. Although the risk of spread of such ballistic missiles is not particularly large, as to hide them difficult to store and operate only by specially trained troops. Greater concern are experts, however, the smaller chemical weapons in Syria. Publicly available information from the CIA or by organizations such as the NTI suggest that Damascus has assembled over the past decades, thousands of artillery shells, free-fall bombs and rocket-launchers multiple smaller with mustard gas and nerve gas. These missiles, which are used with preference of organizations such as Hezbollah, could exacerbate the threat situation in the Middle East clearly - and put the Israeli army with new problems. During the Israeli offensive in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah had fired about 2006 rockets into Israel of thousands.Whether such a military action by Israel against a chemically armed Hezbollah would be possible is still an open question. The West can currently do little more than watch and hope for the best. Since the Syrian chemical weapons are distributed over several locations in the country and mostly stored in bunkers, air attacks would be difficult to imagine - especially since they would also carry the risk of releasing large amounts of weapons. And a ground operation, as they seem to consider Israel is likely to be even more difficult. The U.S. Defense Department should have anticipated the beginning of the year already. The result: The backup of the entire chemical arsenal of Syria would require the deployment of 75,000 soldiers.