There is no sign the Syrian regime might use chemical weapons against Israel,
Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Sunday in an interview with Israel
Radio.
“Over the past decades Syria has armed itself with missiles and
chemical weapons,” Ya’alon said, adding that due to the state’s effective
deterrence, the Syrians have thus far not used their weapons against
Israel.
“On these matters, we have to be prepared to protect ourselves,
by ourselves,” he said.
He added: “At this time, we see no sign that this
weaponry is being pointed at us.”
Ya’alon declined to comment on a London
Sunday Times report that special IDF units are operating in Syria to locate
chemical weapons stockpiles.
Israel and NATO countries say Syria has
stocks of various chemical warfare agents at four sites. Some officials have
voiced concern that Assad could attack the Jewish state with its arsenal in a
last stand to rally support from the Arab world.
US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton said last week that Washington was worried an “increasingly
desperate” Assad could use chemical weapons against rebels or lose control of
them.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, US President Barack Obama and
NATO Secretary- General Anders Fogh Rasmussen all issued harsh statements last
week warning Assad against using deploying such weaponry.
Netanyahu said,
“We are monitoring closely, along with the international community, the events
in Syria with regard to the chemical weapons stockpiles.”
He said he “heard the
important statement made by President Obama on this matter and I agree, these
weapons cannot be used or transferred to terrorist
organizations.”
Rasmussen said last week that any such act by the Syrian
government would provoke an immediate international response.
“The
possible use of chemical weapons would be completely unacceptable for the whole
international community,” Rasmussen told reporters. “If anybody resorts to these
terrible weapons, then I would expect an immediate reaction from the
international community.”
And Obama said “I want to make it absolutely
clear to Assad and those under his command: The world is watching. The use of
chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable and if you make the tragic
mistake of using these weapons, there will be consequences and you will be held
accountable.”
Meanwhile, US and Russian officials gave their commitment
to a political solution for the deepening Syrian conflict, a United Nations
envoy said on Sunday, but Moscow dismissed speculation it was preparing for
Assad’s exit.
With rebels now fighting on the doorsteps of Damascus,
Assad’s forces kept up their now daily artillery strikes and air raids on
eastern suburbs as well as some rebel-held districts on the capital’s
outskirts.
UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met the US and Russian deputy
foreign ministers in Geneva for the second session of tripartite talks in less
than a week, apparently in response to rising violence that now threatens to
engulf Damascus.
“All three parties reaffirmed their common assessment
that the situation in Syria was bad and getting worse,” a statement from Brahimi
said. “They stressed that a political process to end the crisis in Syria was
necessary and still possible.”