LONDON - Britain said on Tuesday it was aware of media
reports about a chemical weapons attack in Syria, adding that the use or
proliferation of chemical weapons there would demand a serious response from the
international community.
"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 Foreign Office
spokeswoman said.
Turkey, meanwhile, rejected an accusation from Syria on Tuesday that
Turkey bore responsibility for a possible chemical attack in the northern
province of Aleppo.
"This is a baseless accusation, the Syrian government
has accused Turkey in the past as well," a Turkish government official told
Reuters.
Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoabi said earlier that
Turkey and Qatar, which have supported rebels fighting President Bashar
al-Assad, bore "legal, moral and political responsibility" for the attack, state
television reported.
Syria's Information Minister Omran al-Zoabi said on Tuesday the country's armed forces would never use internationally banned weapons, after the government and rebels traded blame for what both sides said was a chemical weapon attack near Aleppo.
"Syria's army leadership has stressed this before and we say it again, if we had chemical weapons we would never use them due to moral, humanitarian and political reasons," Zoabi said in a televised news conference.
"Our armed forces absolutely could not use, not now, nor at any time, nor in the past, any weapon banned by international law."
