Syria to U.N.: 'Serious fear' it will be framed for the use of chemical weapons
December 10, 2012 -- Updated 1559 GMT (2359 HKT)
New aid for Syrian rebels?
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Syria's opposition leader is to brief European ministers on the crisis
- Syria accuses the United States of framing it on chemical weapons
- Syria cites recent media reports about the possible use of the weapons
- At least 7 people have been killed Monday in fighting across Syria, the opposition says
Ashton met Monday with
Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib and pledged European support ahead of the monthly
meeting of European Union foreign ministers.
"We want to help, but it's their country," she said.
Al-Khatib is to discuss
his proposal for a political transition plan, part of a comprehensive
effort to end the hostilities that have left thousands of people dead in
nearly 21 months of fighting that the administration of Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad characterizes as a fight against terrorism.
Ashton said the world must take a stand against al-Assad's actions.
"It is important that we
recognize the terrible things that have been happening in Syria and the
responsibility that Assad has," Ashton said. "We said from the very
beginning that it is no place to be in a position of power in your
country if you respond to peaceful demonstrations with the murder of
your citizens."
On Sunday, the joint
United Nations and Arab League envoy on Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, said a
political solution is still possible even though the situation is "bad
and getting worse."
Brahimi's comments came after a meeting with U.S. and Russian diplomats.
He released a statement
saying the meeting "explored avenues to move forward a peaceful process
and mobilize greater international action in favour of a political
solution to the Syrian crisis."
Meanwhile, Syria accused
the United States of working to frame the country for using chemical
weapons, according to Syrian state-run media.
"The U.S. administration
has consistently worked over the past year to launch a campaign of
allegations on the possibility that Syria could use chemical weapons
during the current crisis," the Foreign Ministry wrote in letters to
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the state-run Syrian Arab News
Agency reported.
"What raises concerns
about this news circulated by the media is our serious fear that some of
the countries backing terrorism and terrorists might provide the armed
terrorist groups with chemical weapons and claim that it was the Syrian
government that used the weapons," SANA quoted the letters as saying.
U.S. officials have
expressed concern about intelligence suggesting that Syrian military
units may be preparing chemical weapons for use.
President Barack Obama has called the use of chemical weapons a "red line" that would prompt swift U.S. reaction.
The United States and
European allies are using defense contractors to train Syrian rebels on
how to secure chemical weapons stockpiles, according to a senior U.S.
official and several senior diplomats.
The training is taking
place in Jordan and Turkey, and involves how to monitor and secure
stockpiles and handle weapons sites and materials, according to the
officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorized to publicly discuss the issue.
Some of the contractors are in Syria working with the rebels to monitor some of the sites, one of the officials said.
Opposition groups said fighting continued across the country on Monday.
At least seven people
died Monday, including a woman and two children killed by shelling in a
Damascus suburb, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria said.
In one Aleppo
neighborhood, opposition activists said, they discovered 10 handcuffed
and blindfolded corpses killed by government forces in recent weeks, the
observatory reported.
CNN is unable to confirm casualty reports as the government has severely restricted access by international journalists.
CNN's Elise Labott and Samira Said contributed to this report.
end quote from:
However, I think the real problem might become that Sarin, for example, is very unstable and tends to quickly eat away through metals because of it's unstable form. So, usually within about a couple of weeks weaponized Sarin weapons will begin to corrode through and kill whoever they are around including Syrian Army personnel. So, since Syria has weaponized a lot of it's stocks into aerial bombs they will either need to use them or a lot of Syrian Soldiers who are handling them are going to die unless they bury them deep underground or something like that.
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