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.

“Syria stresses again, for a tenth and a hundredth time, if we had such weapons, they would not be used,” Maqdad said.

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.

“We will not concern ourselves with this psychological war and we will continue to fight terrorism,” Syria’s deputy foreign minister said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama have vowed to take action if the Syrian Army uses its alleged stockpile of chemical weapons during the ongoing turmoil inside the country.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned on Tuesday that any use of chemical weapons by Syria’s government against gunmen would prompt an immediate military response.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of security forces, have been killed in the turmoil.

The Syrian government says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.