Washington moves to reassure Nato ally, with reports emerging of Pentagon plan to guard or destroy Syria's stockpiles
US military and intelligence officials met their Turkish counterparts in Ankara on Thursday to discuss ways to counter the threat of Syrian chemical weapons, as the impact of the civil war continued to spread across Syria's borders.
The Ankara meeting came as David Cameron supported Barack Obama's threat of possible military intervention in Syria if the regime used chemical weapons. Reports from the US suggested the Pentagon has plans to dispatch special forces teams to secure or destroy chemical weapon stockpiles if there was a danger they might fall into the hands of extremist groups.
Bashar al-Assad's regime acknowledged its long-suspected possession of a stock of chemical weapons last month when a spokesman, Jihad Makdissi, said such weapons would not be used inside Syria but might be if the country was "exposed to external aggression".
The American delegation to the Ankara meeting was led by Elizabeth Jones, a high-ranking diplomat, most recently involved in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Turkish government did not name its representatives at the meeting, which was closed to the press, but they included senior security officials. Diplomats said the joint military and intelligence planning session was intended to reassure Turkey that the US would help prevent the conflict spilling across the border and destabilising its Nato ally.
The US has hitherto turned down Turkish appeals to help set up a safe haven inside Syria for regime opponents or to establish humanitarian corridors to besieged population centres, but in agreeing to hold the meeting 12 days ago, the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, did not rule out such options if the violence continued to escalate.
"Our intelligence services and our military have very important responsibilities and roles to play," Clinton said. "In the horrible event that chemical weapons were used, we discussed what that would mean in terms of response and of humanitarian and medical emergency assistance and what would need to be done to secure those stocks and prevent them being used or falling into the wrong hands," she said.
President Obama has said Syria's use or movement of chemical weapons would represent a "red line" for the US, possibly leading Washington to intervene militarily. In a telephone conversation on Wednesday night, according a Downing Street spokesperson, Cameron and Obama "agreed that the use – or threat – of chemical weapons was completely unacceptable and would force them to revisit their approach so far".
The Los Angeles Times reported that the Pentagon had contingency plans to protect or destroy chemical weapons stockpiles if they were left unguarded or in danger of falling into the hands of the armed opposition, or extremist groups linked to al-Qaida or Hezbollah.
The paper, quoting unnamed officials, says "securing the sites would probably involve stealthy raids by special operations teams trained to handle such weapons, and precision air strikes to incinerate the chemicals without dispersing them in the air".
"US satellites and drone aircraft already maintain partial surveillance of the sites," it adds.
An assessment by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London said Syria had manufactured mustard gas, a blistering agent, and a nerve gas called sarin. The report said Damascus was also alleged to have develop a more powerful and lingering nerve agent known as VX.
"I don't think Assad will use them," Dina Esfandiary, an IISS security analyst, said. "He is well aware it would be the end of his rule. What drives urgency, and what frightens bordering states, is the risk they will fall into the hands of non-state actors who would not be as deterrable as Assad."
Inside Syria, government forces moved into Daraya, a mostly anti-regime town on the south-westerly edge of Damascus. The army bombarded the area with artillery and helicopter gunships for 24 hours before sending in troops, according to opposition sources. Fighting also continued for a fourth day in the Lebanese port city of Tripoli after the collapse of a ceasefire between Sunni and Shia militias, a further sign that the 17-month civil conflict is becoming steadily harder to contain. The fighting was sparked by tit-for-tat abductions that began inside Syria, where the ruling Allawite minority has strong historical ties with Lebanese Shia groups.