Syria used chemical weapons against civilians, the U.S. has concluded. But the UN is still studying evidence and pleads for more time before any attacks by the west.
Military response likely; Syrians fleeing country
With U.S. President Barack Obama declaring unequivocally that the Syrian government has carried out a deadly chemical weapons attack on civilians, fears over a military strike against the country rippled across the region Wednesday.
Those fears sent 6,000 Syrians fleeing to neighbouring Lebanon and Israelis scrambling for gas masks in case Damascus retaliates against them.
Obama did not present any direct evidence to back up his assertion that the Syrian government bears responsibility for the attack. While he said he is still evaluating possible military retaliation, the president vowed that any U.S. response would send a “strong signal” to Syrian President Bashar Assad.
“We have concluded that the Syrian government in fact carried these out,” Obama told PBS NewsHour. “And if that’s so, then there need to be international consequences.”
The White House says it’s planning a possible military response while seeking support from international partners.
Seven days after chemical weapons were purportedly unleashed on rebel-held suburbs of the Syrian capital, many now believe a U.S. strike is inevitable. However, UN chief Ban Ki-moon pleaded Wednesday for more time for diplomacy and to allow UN investigators to complete their work. The experts, wearing flak jackets and helmets, collected blood and urine samples from victims during a visit to at least one of the areas hit in last week’s attack.
At the same time, Syria’s chief allies, Russia and Iran, warned of dire consequences for the region if any armed intervention is undertaken.
The Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said attacking Syria would be catastrophic for the entire Middle East.
“Intervention of foreign and extra-regional powers in a country has no result other than sparking fire,” Iran’s state TV quoted Khamenei as saying. “Waging a war is like a spark in a gunpowder store … its dimensions and consequences can’t be predicted.”
The U.S. has not presented concrete proof of Syrian regime involvement in the attack, and UN inspectors have not endorsed the allegations, although the UN envoy to Syria, Lakh- dar Brahimi, said evidence suggests some kind of “substance” was used that killed hundreds.
Two senior Obama administration officials said U.S. intelligence agencies are drawing up a report laying out the evidence against Assad’s government. The classified version would be sent to key members of Congress and a declassified version would be made public.
One of the officials said the administration is considering more than a single set of military strikes and “the options are not limited just to one day” of assault.
“If there is action taken, it must be clearly defined what the objective is and why” and based on “clear facts,” said the senior administration official who did not wish to be named because he wasn’t authorized to discuss internal deliberations publicly.
Obama is weighing a limited response that focuses on punishing the Syrian government for violating international agreements that bar the use of chemical weapons. Any U.S. military action, officials say, would not be aimed at toppling the Assad regime or vastly altering the course of Syria’s civil war, which has already claimed 100,000 dead.
The UN secretary general urged restraint to give UN inspectors time to finish their investigation, which began Monday.
“Let them conclude … their work for four days and then we will have to analyze scientifically” their findings and send a report to the UN Security Council, Ban said. The UN said the analysis would be done “as quickly as possible.”
Syria’s ambassador to the UN, Bashar Ja’afari, said he sent Ban a letter demanding that the inspectors extend their investigation to what he described as three chemical weapons attacks against Syrian soldiers in the Damascus suburbs. He said the attacks occurred on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and that dozens of Syrian soldiers are currently being treated for inhaling nerve gases.
Ja’afari also blamed the rebels for any chemical weapons attack, saying “the Syrian government is innocent of these allegations.”
Ban pleaded for more time to give diplomacy another chance to end Syria’s conflict. Marking the centenary of a venue for peaceful conflict resolution in The Hague, Netherlands, he said: “Here in the Peace Palace, let us say: Give peace a chance. Give diplomacy a chance. Stop fighting and start talking.”
But with many seeing western intervention no longer a question of if but when, there were signs of growing fears across the wider region.
At least 6,000 Syrians crossed into Lebanon in a 24-hour period through the main Masnaa crossing, including an estimated 4,000 on Wednesday, according to Lebanese secur- ity officials in the country’s Bekaa Valley near the border. The normal daily influx is 500 to 1,000 refugees, depending on the level of fighting. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Long lines of packed cars — some with suitcases strapped to roofs — were backed up at the frontier post, witnesses said.
A security official said about 2,000 also crossed into Syria, but many of them said they were going in to help relocate relatives.
One woman, Um Ahmad, entered Lebanon with her five children, saying she fearing U.S. strikes on Damascus.
“Isn’t it enough, all the violence and fighting that we already have in the country, now America wants to bomb us, too?” the 45-year-old said.
Nearly two million Syrians have fled the country since the crisis began in March 2011, and millions more are displaced inside Syria.
The fallout was also evident in Israel, where large crowds lined up at gas-mask distribution centres. Maya Avishai of the Israeli postal service, which oversees gas mask distribution, said demand has tripled in recent days. About five million Israelis, roughly 60 per cent of the population, now have gas masks, she said.