Syria's Bashar al-Assad will fight Western 'aggression'
BBC News online -- 29 August 2013
The BBC's Jeremy Bowen in Damascus: "People are going about their daily business but there is a lot of anxiety"
Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad has said his country will defend itself
against Western aggression, as the UK and US seek support for
intervention.
The US and UK say the Assad regime killed hundreds in recent poison gas attacks. Damascus denies the claims and blames the attacks on rebels.
UN chemical weapons experts are in Syria investigating the attacks.
At the scene
Anxiety may be haunting the population of Damascus, but there is no sign of panic as they go about their daily routines. Government offices are operating as normal in their normal locations.
Nor can one see any impact from the crisis on the availability of food. There is plenty of flour and the ministry of supply says that there are sufficient reserves of it.
In the early days of the crisis, some people started to stockpile food, but when in the following days they realised there was enough they stopped stockpiling, especially because of the high prices.
With all the tourists gone from Damascus, the only inhabitants of the hotels are either journalists or people working for international organisations. In Hamadiyeh market, merchants without customers to serve sit around watching TV to follow the latest developments.
They are due to finish their work
on Friday and give their preliminary findings to UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon at the weekend.
It is unclear when the inspectors' final report will be released. The UN has said the tests will take "longer than days".
Their mandate does not involve apportioning blame for the attacks, which took place in eastern Damascus on 21 August and left at least 355 dead.
The UK pushed for a UN Security Council resolution facilitating the use of force on Wednesday, but no agreement was reached.
The five permanent members - Russia, France, China, the UK and US - reconvened at 18:30 GMT on Thursday but ended the meeting less than an hour later.
Russia, which has twice blocked resolutions condemning Mr Assad, called the meeting.
Analysts say Moscow is unlikely to agree to any resolution approving the use of force in Syria.
Russia has close ties with the Assad government, supplying its armed forces with weapons and housing its warships in Syria's ports.
Earlier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the phone to urge Russia to help the Security Council frame a "quick, unanimous international reaction".
However, the British prime minister's office said in a statement
that the UK could still take "exceptional measures including targeted
military intervention" on humanitarian grounds, even if the Security
Council could not agree.
US officials are expected to brief senior Congress politicians later on the evidence against Mr Assad's government.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest strongly denied comparisons between potential US action in Syria, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
"What we saw in [Iraq] was an administration that was searching high and low to produce evidence to justify a military invasion," he said.
"What we have seen here tragically is a preponderance of evidence available in the public domain that the Assad regime used chemical weapons against innocent civilians."
He insisted that the US was not contemplating "regime change" in Syria, and any intervention would be "very discrete and limited".
Anti-war protesters gathered outside Parliament ahead of the debate
Mr Assad told a group of Yemeni MPs that Syria would defend itself against any aggression, according to Syria's Sana news agency.
Models for possible intervention
- Iraq 1991: US-led global military coalition with UN mandate
- Balkans 1990s: US arms supplied to anti-Serb resistance in defiance of UN-mandated embargo; later US-led air campaign
- Somalia 1992-93: UN-authorised force; US military involvement culminated in disaster
- Libya 2011: UN-authorised air offensive
"Syria, with its steadfast people
and brave army, will continue eliminating terrorism, which is utilised
by Israel and Western countries to serve their interests in fragmenting
the region," he said.
Many Damascus residents have fled the city in fear of an impending attack.
Long lines of cars loaded with suitcases have been waiting at the main Masnaa border crossing into Lebanon.
But state television is portraying citizens going about their normal lives, seemingly unperturbed by the prospect of military strikes.
More than 100,000 people are estimated to have died since the conflict erupted in Syria in March 2011, and the conflict has produced at least 1.7 million refugees.
Forces which could be used against Syria
- Four US destroyers - USS Gravely, USS Ramage, USS Barry and USS Mahan are in the eastern Mediterranean, equipped with cruise missiles
- Cruise missiles could also be launched from submarines, including a British Trafalgar class boat; HMS Tireless was reportedly sighted in Gibraltar at the weekend
- Airbases at Incirlik and Izmir in Turkey, and in Jordan, could be used to carry out strikes
- Two aircraft carriers - USS Nimitz and USS Harry S Truman, along with escort ships, are in the wider region
- The Royal Navy's response force task group - which includes helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious and frigates HMS Montrose and HMS Westminster - is in the region on a scheduled deployment
- RAF Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus could also be used
- French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is currently in Toulon in the western Mediterranean
- French Raffale and Mirage aircraft can also operate from Al-Dhahra airbase in the UAE
Labels: Chemical Weapons, Conflict, Intervention, Syria
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, August 29, 2013
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