| New York Times | - |
BEIRUT, Lebanon - The Syrian government and Syrian
rebels and activists traded accusations about an attack in Aleppo on
Tuesday, in which each side said the other had used chemical weapons.
Syrian regime, rebels blame each other for chemical attacks
updated 12:33 PM EDT, Tue March 19, 2013
Syrian rebels take position in
Aleppo, the largest city in the country, on March 11. Tensions in Syria
flared in March 2011, escalating into a civil war that still rages
today. This gallery contains the most compelling images taken since the
start of the fighting.
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Syrian civil war in photos
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Syrian regime warns of dangers of chemical arms reaching al Qaeda-linked rebels
- Rebels say a Damascus suburb was hit by chemical weapons
- U.S. officials are skeptical that chemical weapons were used
- Ghassan Hitto is the new leader of the opposition's provisional government
The embattled government
of President Bashar al-Assad accused rebels of a deadly chemical weapons
missile attack. At least 25 people died and more than 110 others were
injured Tuesday in the town of Khan al-Asal in Aleppo province, Syrian
state media said, quoting government figures. Rebels rebuffed the claims
and blamed the regime.
The town of Ateibeh, in
eastern Damascus, endured "fierce shelling with chemical rockets," an
opposition group said. An unknown number of casualties were reported.
These claims come amid
pressure in the West to arm rebels, long overmatched by the Syrian
military and its allies. The United States and other world powers have
worried that Syria would consider using its chemical weaponry arsenal
against fighters trying to topple the al-Assad government. And there is
concern that jihadists who are fighting on the side of the opposition
could get their hands on chemical weaponry.
The civil war -- which
began two years ago after a government crackdown on Syrian protesters --
has left around 70,000 people dead, the United Nations said, and
uprooted more than 1 million people.
Syrian Information
Minister Omran al-Zoubi said the missile in Aleppo province was launched
from inside Syria, but the launcher came from another country.
"Whoever paid for this
weapon in Qatar or any other country and whoever brought this weapon to
be used in Syria must be held accountable, whoever they are, a king or a
prince, a president or a minister," he said. "Whoever made this
decision in the last Arab League meeting is responsible for the mass
killing and the use of weapons of destruction."
Jamal al Ward, head of
the military office of the Syrian Coalition, said the opposition has "no
chemical substances and no mechanism for producing" such weapons.
"The regime has these
weapons and everyone knows where they keep them. They have missiles and
factories where they make missiles with chemicals. They are the ones
capable of using this stuff all over Syria," he said. "I know the
(rebel) battalions and the weapons they have in that area and they just
don't have chemicals."
Added Ahmed Moaz
al-Khatib, head of the Syrian National Coalition: "First, the Syrian
regime lies most of the time.... We are against any use of any chemical
weapons from any side."
Syrian rebels accused
the government of firing a rocket at a police school west of Aleppo, but
the rocket landed in the wrong area, striking an area under control by
government forces.
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Assad's wife ventures out to the opera
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Terrorism vs. revolution in Syria's war
The state-run Syrian
Arab News Agency, which reported that most of those killed were
civilians, showed photos of people being treated in hospitals on its
website.
But Louay Almokdad,
political and media coordinator for the Free Syrian Army, told CNN that
the rebels lack access to chemical weapons and surface-to-surface
missiles. He confirmed injuries in an attack in the town, but said it
was carried out with a missile possessed only by the regime.
"The area that was
targeted is under rebels' control, so it is quite absurd that the regime
would accuse us of attacking our own people," he said.
"The Assad regime
possesses chemical agents and they already used weapons of mass
destruction against its own people, so we do expect the worse from this
brutal psychopathic regime," he said. "The international community must
take these attacks against our civilian population seriously. It is time
to put an end to the daily mass killings in Syria."
An activist Facebook
page said the location was between rebel-held and regime-held territory,
and it appeared that the blast hit mostly regime soldiers and some
civilians in a regime-held area.
As for Ateibeh, the
shelling caused deaths and many injuries, "including suffocating and
nausea cases and headache, vomiting and hysteria cases," the opposition
Local Coordination Committees of Syria said.
"These cases are being
documented for the first time in the town and were not seen like this
before," the LCC said. There was no immediate government comment about
Ateibeh.
Homemade videos show injured people, and others say witnesses talked of people suffocating.
International reaction: Shock, concern, skepticism
The international
community is looking into the reports. The Russian Foreign Ministry,
citing information from Damascus, said chemical weapons were used by the
armed opposition, causing deaths and injuries.
"We believe the new
incident is an extremely alarming and dangerous development in the
Syrian crisis," the Russian ministry said. "Russia is seriously
concerned about the fact of (weapons of mass destruction) coming into
the hands of militants, which makes the situation in Syria even worse
and brings the confrontation in the country to a new level."
The Obama administration is carefully investigating the reports, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
"Any time we see reports
of chemical weapons use in Syria, it's a top priority to try to
determine what happened," he said. Carney reiterated President Barack
Obama's position that the use of chemical weapons by al-Assad or those
under his command would be "totally unacceptable."
"There will be consequences, and they will be held accountable," Carney said, passing along the president's comment.
"We also consider a red line the proliferation of chemical weapons to other actors by the regime," he added.
Carney also said there's
no evidence to support the claim that the opposition has used chemical
weapons. Obama will be discussing the Syrian crisis during his visit
this week to the Middle East, where it will be a topic of conservation
with Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian leaders.
The British Foreign Office is also checking on the reports.
"The use of chemical
weapons would be abhorrent and universally condemned. The UK is clear
that the use or proliferation of chemical weapons would demand a serious
response from the international community and force us to revisit our
approach so far," a spokesman said.
Two senior U.S.
officials said they don't believe the rebels used chemical weapons and
suggested the regime itself may have manufactured the incident to
preserve the ability use them in the future.
"The regime is using
(the claims) as a pretext for their own possible use," one of the
officials said. "The opposition has no such weapons."
The officials said they
could not confirm a rebel claim that the regime used some type of agent
on its own people in order to blame the rebels but could not rule it
out. Officials pointed to previous claims that chemical weapons were
used, which, after extensive investigation, were unsubstantiated.
The Syrian Foreign and
Expatriates Ministry sent two letters Tuesday to the United Nations
warning of the dangers of chemical weapons getting into the hands of al
Qaeda-linked opposition groups.
The Syrian government
did not use chemical weapons against residents of Homs in a December
attack, a U.S. State Department investigation showed but did apparently
misuse a riot-control gas in the incident, according to senior U.S.
officials.
The investigation
stemmed from allegations inside Syria about the use of chemical weapons
during the attack on the city of Homs on December 23. The officials said
the State Department launched a probe from its consulate in Istanbul
after doctors and activists reported dozens of victims suffering from
nervous system, respiratory and gastrointestinal ailments after inhaling
the gas.
Military analysts
believe the Syrian government may have one of the largest stockpiles of
chemical weapons in the world. Specifically, the supply could include
sarin, mustard and VX gases.
Arming the rebels
Dissidents inside and
outside Syria have called for the United States to take a greater role
in helping Syrian rebels, including supplying arms.
So far, the Obama administration has donated nonlethal and humanitarian aid.
But Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States would not stand in the way of its allies' arming Syrian rebels.
Kerry acknowledged the need to change the military "imbalance" on the ground in order to change al-Assad's "calculus."
"Right now, President
Assad is receiving help from the Iranians, he's receiving help from al
Qaeda-related, some elements, he's receiving help from Hezbollah, and
obviously some help is coming in through the Russians," Kerry said. "If
he believes he can shoot it out, Syrians and the region have a problem
and the world has a problem."
Members of the rebel
Free Syrian Army have said they've received shipments from some
countries and seized and purchased weapons from government troops. But
al-Assad's forces have heavy weaponry and warplanes.
Last week, the French foreign minister said he wanted to lift a European Union arms embargo and start arming rebels.
"We must go ahead and
allow the Syrian people to defend themselves against this bloodthirsty
regime. It's our responsibility to help the (opposition) Syrian National
Coalition, its leaders and the Free Syrian Army by all the possible
means," Laurent Fabius wrote in an op-ed for the French newspaper
Liberation.
"If not, the slaughter
will continue, and there will not be any other possible outcome but to
strengthen the most extreme groups and the collapse of Syria with
devastating consequences for the country itself and the region."
In February, the
European Union renewed its arms embargo on Syria for three months -- but
amended it to allow greater nonlethal support and technical assistance
to help protect civilians.
The latest EU arms embargo is set to expire in May. Member countries could renew it, add amendments or veto it.
A new opposition leader
A Syrian opposition
alliance elected Ghassan Hitto, an information technology executive and
U.S.-educated Kurdish businessman, to lead its provisional government.
The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces made the announcement Tuesday.
The contingent
government's formation should assuage concerns from the West --
particularly the United States -- about who would lead Syria should
al-Assad be deposed, the Syrian American Council said.
"This question has now been answered," the group said.
For two years, the lack
of a clear alternative to al-Assad's government has hampered the
opposition's efforts in gaining more international support. Some say the
absence of an alternative leader has helped prolong the bloodshed.
It didn't take long for
Hitto to declare what many in the opposition have said: "There will be
no dialogue with the Assad regime."
The opposition's new prime minister has both Syrian and American roots.
Born in Damascus, Hitto
earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from Indiana universities and
lived for many years in Dallas, where he worked as an information
technology executive.
But he remained active
in Syrian causes, serving on the board of the Syrian American Council
and visiting the besieged country several times, the National Coalition
said.
He left his job of 11
years to work full-time for the Syrian revolution and directed the
alliance's assistance coordination unit.
Hitto and his wife, an
American teacher, have four children. Their oldest son has helped with
humanitarian aid in Syria and was injured in a bombing, the group said.
CNN's Saad Abedine, Hamdi Alkshali, Barbara
Starr, Elise Labott, Gul Tuysuz, Alla Eshchenko, Raja Razek and Michael
Martinez contributed to this report.
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