Chemical Weapons, West excuse for war on Syria: Official

Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Maqdad says Western countries are preparing the ground for a military intervention against the Arab country under sham concerns over possible use of chemical weapons by Damascus.

In an interview with the Lebanese news channel al-Manar on Thursday, Maqdad dismissed as “theater” reports that Damascus was preparing to use chemical weapons during the ongoing turmoil in Syria.
Maqdad said: “Syria stresses again, for a tenth and a hundredth time, if we had such weapons, they would not be used.”
He added, “In the event that foreign powers actually considered an aggression, they should consider the consequences. I believe the cost will be high…. They need to understand that they are putting the entire region and its environs to danger, if they tried to commit such a folly.”
Maqdad said Syria’s foes might give terrorists chemical weapons and then blame the use of them on Damascus. He also stressed that the Syrian Army will continue to fight the anti-government armed forces.
Syria’s deputy foreign minister said: “We will not concern ourselves with this psychological war and we will continue to fight terrorism.”