Secure And Destroy
"There are people on the ground (inside Syria) assessing the logistics of landing and securing these sites. Preparations are underway for a mission to secure and destroy these weapons."The personnel are there, the equipment is there, the lift capability is there." Middle East intelligence source
Set to spring into action should the regime fall and those chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction stored in over 40 different sites in Syria be in danger of falling into hands eager to use them. Or, alternatively, should Syria's President Bashar al-Assad decide to use them on his tormentors threatening to unseat his Alawite government and principally himself.
British special forces, troops from France and the United States are said to be poised along the borders of Syria. Their mission is to be activated at short notice to secure and destroy Syria's arsenal of biological and chemical weapons if the regime collapses under the weight of the insurrection and the growing incidence of diplomatic and military defections.
Intelligence sources, in fact, claim that specialized military units from France, the U.S. and Britain have been in place for over a month. They're stationed, evidently, in Turkey, in Israel and in Jordan. And they're prepared to strike at those weapons stocks, and at missile sites. Their presence and their alert response reaction represents the acute concerns of the West and regional allies of the catastrophe that could result from terrorists achieving possession of those weapons.
There remains a possibility that President al-Assad plans to hand over parts of its arsenal to Hezbollah. To ensure a smooth handover of mustard gas, sarin, stockpiles of VX and cyanide gas which have been incorporated into artillery shells, bombs and warheads for Scud missiles, a former Syrian intelligence officer who defected has admitted that a cache of these weapons has already been moved near the Lebanese border.
The U.S. plans to bomb the chemical weapons sites to effectively incinerate the toxic agents. Doing so would doubtless send clouds of lethal chemical gas and even dangerous viruses into the atmosphere, creating a threat to those living close to the sites. The U.S. Central Command has ordered a force of aircraft carrier strike groups be put in place. And has positioned bio-hazard gear in the region.
"In case we confront a situation where Assad makes a terrible and horrific choice", explained the U.S. State Department. Four main production facilities are located close to the cities of Aleppo, Latakia, Homs and Hama, the very areas where defiance of the regime originated and is greatest. The special force teams in place would be faced with an impossible task of securing all the sites; both production and storage.
As the battles continue to proliferate and heat up, more government troops will be called upon to fight the rebels. Military members of the regime now guarding the weapons sites will be diminished in number as they join the fighting. That, along with an increasing number of defections will leave the sites in danger of pillage. "As the strain on the regime increases, it will find securing those weapons more difficult."
And that's the nightmare as envisioned by the West and their regional allies.
Labels: Britain, France, Revolution, Security, Syria, Technology, United States
posted by Pieface @ Friday, August 24, 2012
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