JERUSALEM — The Syrian government is still in full control of its chemical weapons stockpiles, Israeli defence officials said on Tuesday, in an apparent bid to calm fears that a non-conventional war could be looming.
Syria’s 16- month- old conflict has spread concern that the chemical arsenal, acknowledged by Damascus for the first time on Monday, could fall into the hands of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Islamist group allied to Iran and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, or that Assad could use them in a desperate last stand.
The Assad government said such weapons are secure and could be used only as a last resort against Syria’s foreign enemies — an allusion to outside military intervention.
The rhetoric stoked demand in Israel for state- funded gas masks, which have been distributed over the last few years as part of the country’s wider preparations for a possible showdown over arch-foe Iran’s disputed nuclear program.
“The worry, of course, is that the ( Assad) regime will destabilize and the control will also destabilize,” Amos Gilad, adviser to Defence Minister Ehud Barak, told Israel Radio.
But he added: “At the moment, the entire non- conventional weapons system is under the full control of the regime.”
Israeli armed forces chief Lt.Gen. Benny Gantz concurred that Assad had control of the stockpiles and was also stepping up security over them.
“To the best of my knowledge, they have not yet reached negative hands,” he told a parliamentary panel on security.
“This does not mean it will not happen,” Gantz said. “They could use them against civilians or transfer specific components of the weapons to Hezbollah.”
Israel is technically at war with Syria and occupies the Golan Heights. While they have not traded blows in three decades, the Assad government’s disclosure suggested there would be no holds barred if its survival were to be threatened by foreign forces.
Underpinning Israel’s concerns are holes in its homefront defences exposed during the 2006 Lebanon war by Hezbollah rockets. Those rockets are dwarfed by Syria’s Scud missiles.
Gas masks are a precaution. Some critics say the kits, costing the state $60 to $175 are a pricey item with limited value against nerve agents.
But Israelis are taking up the offer, just in case.
“There’s a smell of chemical weapons in the air, the sense that a war could be triggered,” said Maya Knobler, 65, who collected masks for herself and her daughter in a shopping mall in Mevasseret Zion, a town outside Jerusalem.