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NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said that a variety
of sources pointed to President Bashar al-Assad's forces
being responsible for the use of chemical weapons in Syria.Speaking after a meeting of NATO ambassadors in Brussels, Rasmussen said any use of such weapons was "unacceptable and cannot go unanswered", although he did not suggest any response.
"This is a clear breach of long-standing international norms and practice... those responsible must be held accountable," he said in a statement.
Rasmussen said the military alliance would keep the situation in Syria under "close review."
His comments came as the United States and its allies pressed their case for likely military action against Assad's government, despite stern warnings against intervention from Damascus' key allies Russia and Iran.
Britain plans to submit a draft resolution to the UN Security Council on Wednesday which will condemn suspected chemical attacks in Syria and demand "all necessary measures" to protect civilians.
Britain's national security council met on Wednesday and unanimously backed action against Syria, and Prime Minister David Cameron has recalled parliament from a summer recess for a debate on the crisis.
'International law clear'
Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN and Arab League envoy for Syria, said that international military action could be carried out only after it has been approved by the Security Council.
"I think international law is clear on this. International law says that military action must be taken after a decision by the Security Council," he told reporters in Geneva.
Syria has denied that it carried out the attack, and
challenged world powers to provide evidence that it had done so. The
Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar al-Jaafari, on Wednesday
blamed the rebels for the attacks and said they were carried out with the help of Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Meanwhile, UN chemical weapons experts investigating the attack that
killed hundreds of civilians in rebel-held suburbs of Damascus finished a
second trip to Ghouta to take samples.The inspectors' first such visit on Monday was briefly suspended after the UN's convoy came under sniper fire from unidentified gunmen, though they did visit two field hospitals to collect evidence.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said it would take the inspectors four days to finish gathering evidence, and they would then need time to analyse their findings.
Al Jazeera’s James Bays, reporting from the UN headquarters in New York, said the world body keeps saying that the inspectors need time to find evidence on the use of chemical weapons.
“This [the delay in the work of the inspectors] presents a little of a problem for US, UK and France as they consider possibly taking military action without UN authorisation," he said.
Meanwhile, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Wednesday that US intervention in Syria would be "a disaster for the region", the ISNA state news agency reported.
"The intervention of supra-regional and foreign powers in one country will have no result other than lighting a fire and increase the hatred people have for them," the gency quoted Khamenei as saying.
"This lighting of a fire is like a spark in a gunpowder magazine whose dimensions and consequences are unknown."
Turkey has put its armed forces on alert, foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, US Vice-President Joe Biden became the highest ranking US official to accuse Syria's government of having carried out the attack, asserting that there was "no doubt" that the government was "responsible for this heinous" act.
Also on Tuesday, Chuck Hagel, the US Defence Secretary, repeated previous statements that US forces were now positioned to strike Assad's forces should the decision to take military action be made.
aljazeera.com
28/8/13
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Related:
Imam Khamenei: US Attack on Syria will be “Catastrophic” on Region - “killing unarmed protestors is condemned by everyone.”
Carla del Ponte: Syrian Chemical Weapons Attack Carried Out by Rebels (VIDEO YT 27/8/13)
Ban Ki-Moon calls for diplomatic solution in Syria...
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NATO condemns 'outrageous attacks' in Syria...
ReplyDeleteRasmussen: 'Use of chemical weapons is a threat to international peace and security'
BRUSSELS (AA) - NATO condemned last week's chemical attack in Syria in the strongest terms, which caused major loss of life.
The North Atlantic Council discussed Wednesday the situation in Syria and in particular the 'horrific use of chemical weapons' around Damascus on 21 August.
NATO Allies expressed their full support to the ongoing UN investigation, said NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in a statement. "They deplored that the Syrian regime failed to provide immediate and secure access for the United Nations inspectors to the sites of the attacks," he said.
Rasmussen stressed that information available from a wide variety of sources pointed to the Syrian regime as responsible for the use of chemical weapons in the attacks.
"This is a clear breach of long-standing international norms and practise. Any use of such weapons is unacceptable and cannot go unanswered. Those responsible must be held accountable," he said. "We will continue to consult and keep the situation in Syria under close review, and NATO continues to assist Turkey and protect the Alliance’s south-eastern border."
http://www.aa.com.tr/en/rss/221197--nato-condemns-outrageous-attacks-in-syria
28/8/13
Strike against Assad regime stalled by British political rows....
ReplyDeleteMilitary response to alleged Syria chemical attack may be delayed until Tuesday as Obama warns Syria of 'international consequences'.
Allied air strikes against the Syrian government over the alleged use of chemical weapons could be delayed until next week in the face of strong opposition in the UK parliament to British involvement in immediate military action.
The prime minister, David Cameron, conceded that MPs would be given a second vote to approve military action to defuse a parliamentary revolt, ahead of a Commons debate on Syria on Thursday. Whitehall sources indicated that the US, which had planned to launch the strikes by the weekend, is prepared to revive a back-up plan to delay the strikes until Tuesday when Barack Obama is due to set out for the G20 summit in Russia.
Such a move by the Obama administration would effectively hand Cameron a political lifeline after the opposition Labour party threatened to inflict a defeat on the Conservative-led coalition in parliament.....http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/28/strike-assad-regime-british
29/8/13
Syrie : Obama et Cameron peinent à convaincre leurs Parlements respectifs...
ReplyDeleteAprès les déclarations sans équivoque, ces derniers jours, pour une intervention militaire rapide en Syrie, le président américain, Barack Obama, et le premier ministre britannique, David Cameron, sont contraints de temporiser face aux fortes réticences de l'opposition et même de leur propre camp, échaudé par le précédent irakien.
Le Congrès américain presse Obama de préciser son plan
Après être resté en retrait pendant plusieurs jours, le président républicain de la Chambre des représentants américaine, John Boehner, a appelé, dans une lettre ouverte, Barack Obama à révéler publiquement ses projets militaires.
"Il est essentiel que vous fournissiez une explication claire et sans ambiguïté sur la façon dont une action militaire, qui est un moyen et non une politique, permettra d'atteindre les objectifs américains et comment elle s'articule avec votre politique globale. Je demande respectueusement que vous défendiez personnellement, en tant que commandant en chef, votre plan devant les Américains et le Congrès."
John Boehner énumére 14 questions (en intégralité ici, en anglais) dont "Quel résultat l'administration espère-t-elle obtenir ?" ou "Votre administration lancera-t-elle des frappes si des armes chimiques sont utilisées à plus petite échelle ?" Au moment où l'élu rendait publique sa lettre, Barack Obama, qui a besoin d'informer le Congrès mais n'a pas besoin de son autorisation, affirmait qu'il n'avait pas encore pris de décision mais qu'une éventuelle intervention en Syrie sous la forme "d'un coup de semonce" viserait à dissuader le régime d'utiliser à nouveau des armes chimiques......http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2013/08/29/syrie-obama-et-cameron-peinent-a-convaincre-leurs-parlements_3467901_3218.html#ens_id=1481132&xtor=RSS-3208
29/8/13
Ghosts of Iraq war force Britain to delay Syria strike...
Delete(Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron's plans for an imminent military strike on Syria were in disarray on Thursday after a revolt by lawmakers warning him to heed the "lessons of Iraq".
After imploring the world not to stand idly by over Syria's suspected use of chemical weapons, Cameron was forced into an awkward climbdown on Wednesday when the opposition Labour party and lawmakers in his own party said they wanted more evidence before voting for military action.
On Thursday, Cameron's government published legal advice it had been given which it said showed it was legally entitled to take military action against Syria even if the United Nations Security Council blocked such action.
It also published intelligence material on last week's chemical weapons attack in Syria, saying there was no doubt that such an attack had taken place and that it was "highly likely" that the Syrian government had been behind the apparent poison gas attack that had killed hundreds.
Dogging Cameron's steps is the memory of events a decade ago, when Britain helped the United States to invade Iraq after asserting - wrongly, as it later turned out - that President Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.
Britain, already embroiled in Afghanistan, was sucked into a second quagmire and lost 179 troops in eight years of war after Iraq descended into savage sectarian conflict.
It was the defining moment of Tony Blair's 1997-2007 premiership, provoking huge protests, divisions within his Labour Party and accusations that his government misled the public by manufacturing the case for war.
"We have got to learn the lessons of Iraq because people remember the mistakes that were made in Iraq and I am not willing to make those mistakes again," said Labour's current leader Ed Miliband.
It was unclear how Cameron's failure to master domestic British politics could affect U.S. and French plans for a swift cruise missile strike against Syria, which denies using chemical weapons against its citizens, or what the impact would be on Cameron's standing in Washington.
President Barack Obama has made the case for a limited military strike on Syria, but some U.S. lawmakers say they have not been properly consulted....http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/29/us-syria-crisis-britain-idUSBRE97R1BD20130829?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
29/8/13
Russia sending warships to the Mediterranean: Report....
ReplyDeleteRussia "over the next few days" will be sending an anti-submarine ship and a missile cruiser to the Mediterranean as the West prepares for possible strikes against Syria, the Interfax news agency said on Thursday.
"The well-known situation shaping up in the eastern Mediterranean called for certain corrections to the make-up of the naval forces," a source in the Russian General Staff told Interfax. "A large anti-submarine ship of the Northern Fleet will join them (the existing naval forces) over the next few days. Later it will be joined by... a rocket cruiser of the Black Sea Fleet.".....http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/russia-sending-warships-to-the-mediterranean-report.aspx?pageID=238&nID=53439&NewsCatID=359
29/8/13
Russian Med Fleet Redeployment ‘Not Linked’ to Syria - Navy...
ReplyDeleteMOSCOW, August 29 (RIA Novosti) – The redeployment of Russian Naval vessels in the Mediterranean Sea is part of a planned rotation and is not linked with the worsening situation in Syria, a Russian Naval spokesperson said Thursday.
The statement comes after media reports had suggested that the grouping of Russian vessels in the Mediterranean Sea was to be changed in direct connection with events in Syria. Admiral Viktor Chirkov, commander of the Russian Navy, told Zvezda TV channel Sunday that Russia "should have five or six vessels permanently deployed in the Mediterranean," but did not say how many were already there.
“The vessels in the Mediterranean, like those in other parts of the world, act under plans by the Russian Naval Command and General Staff, and fulfil tasks set,” the Naval spokesperson said.
“On completion of these tasks, the vessels then either return to their bases, or are replaced by other vessels to complete the tasks set,” the spokesperson said, adding “This does not amount to a renewal of any grouping or groupings, it is a planned rotation.”
The spokesperson for the Russian Navy did not share any further details with RIA Novosti regarding the ships involved, and said Navy General Staff decides what class of vessel to send.
http://en.rian.ru/military_news/20130829/183036858/Russian-Med-Fleet-Redeployment-Not-Linked-to-Syria---Navy.html
29/8/3
Syrie : la Russie va envoyer des bateaux de guerre en Méditerranée...Alors que les Occidentaux ralentissent la mise en place d'une opération militaire, Moscou s'y prépare activement...
DeleteLes Etats-Unis et le Royaume-Uni se montrent plus prudents sur la possibilité d'une action militaire en Syrie. Le Parlement britannique doit se prononcer, jeudi 29 août, au lendemain d'une réunion stérile à l'ONU. Chacun compte sur les conclusions des experts qui cherchent les preuves de l'utilisation d'armes chimiques près de Damas, sur les lieux des derniers bombardements intensifs du régime.
Suivez les événements de la journée dans ce live et retrouvez les principaux éléments à retenir en bas de la page....http://www.francetvinfo.fr/monde/revolte-en-syrie/obama-n-a-pas-encore-pris-de-decision-sur-une-action-en-syrie_399361.html#xtor=RSS-3-[]
29/8/13
Syrie: Paris envoie une frégate en Méditerranée orientale (journal)...
ReplyDeleteLa France envoie au large de la Syrie l'une de ses frégates antiaériennes les plus modernes, le Chevalier Paul, rapporte jeudi Le Point citant des sources anonymes.
Selon le magazine, la frégate aurait pour objectif de protéger des bombardiers français et alliés lors d'une éventuelle opération contre les forces fidèles à Bachar el-Assad. Les représentants du ministère de la Défense contactés par le journal ont cependant refusé d'évoquer quelque dispositif militaire que ce soit, en parlant d'"activités habituelles" pour les forces armées françaises.
La flotte internationale actuellement déployée face aux côtes syriennes compte entre autres quatre frégates lance-missiles de l'US Navy, ainsi qu'un certain nombre de sous-marins nucléaires américains et britanniques. Tous ces navires sont susceptibles de tirer des missiles de croisière Tomahawk, indique l'hebdomadaire.
Toujours d'après Le Point, la présence du Chevalier Paul dans la région pourrait s'avérer "extrêmement utile" si le régime de Damas tente d'envoyer ses avions contre les navires des marines occidentales.
Le porte-avions nucléaire français Charles de Gaulle, qui se trouve actuellement en Méditerranée occidentale, pourrait également rejoindre la flottille internationale en Syrie en cas de nécessité.
Le soutien aérien de l'éventuelle opération pourrait être assuré depuis les bases de l'Otan situées en Europe et dans le golfe Persique.
http://fr.rian.ru/world/20130829/199140370.html
29/8/13