The United States and its allies are discussing a worst-case scenario that could require tens of thousands of ground troops to go into Syria to secure chemical and biological weapons sites following the fall of President Bashar Assad\’s government, according to U.S. and diplomatic officials.
Syria will only use its chemical weapons on threats from outside of the country, Syria\’s Foreign Ministry said.
U.S. Pentagon officials discussed with Israeli defense officials whether Israel could destroy Syrian weapons facilities in the event of the collapse of the Syrian government, The New York Times reported.
U.S. officials are warily watching as Syria begins moving undeclared chemical weapons out of its storage facilities.
Russia said on Tuesday Syria\’s shooting down of a Turkish warplane should not be seen as a provocation and warned world powers against using the incident to push for stronger action against Damascus.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad condemned on Sunday the \”abominable\” massacre of more than 100 people in Houla, saying even monsters could not carry out such acts, and promised a 15-month-old crisis would end soon if Syrians pulled together.
A computer virus attacking computers in Iran and the West Bank may have been created with Israeli involvement, a government minister hinted.
Syrian security forces deployed in the hills around the coastal town of Banyias on Tuesday in preparation for a possible attack on the coastal city to crush the five-week popular uprising in the country, a protest leader said.
I first met Maurice Singer on the far bank of the Suez Canal during the second week of the Yom Kippur War, soon after Israel had counter-attacked across the waterway. The British-born, 28-year-old machine-gunner was grimy and sweating on his clanking, dust-encrusted half-track, the forerunner of today\’s armored personnel carrier. Like all his comrades, he scribbled a phone number and asked our group of reporters to let his family know he was okay.
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