Strike on Syrian WMDs could spark regional war, says Gantz

Speaking at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday, Israel Defense Forces Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz discussed the precarious security situation in Syria, specifically pertaining to the country’s stockpiles of chemical weapons and the specter of those weapons falling into the hands of terrorist organizations.

„To the best of my judgment, for now [the Syrian regime] completely controls these weapons systems and they have not transferred them to unfavorable hands,” Gantz told the committee.

„This doesn’t mean it will stay this way. It’s possible that the situation will change and we will be left with a dilemma,” he said.

Gantz touched on the various options at the IDF’s disposal in case the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons fell into the hands of Hezbollah or other global terrorist organizations.

„If we want to [respond] in a very pinpoint manner, there is the possibility that we’ll have difficulty finding exactly the right spot. If we choose a blanket response, we can find ourselves rather quickly in a broader war than we had planned,” Israel’s army chief said, laying out the dilemma in stark terms.

Gantz went on to give an overview of the Syrian military’s activities in the areas of conflict, pointing out that the main focus areas of the regime’s attention were in Damascus and Aleppo, and that the Iranians and Hezbollah have provided a significant amount of military aid to the regime in the form of advisors, equipment and fighters.

The IDF chief of staff also touched on the deadly terrorist attack that occurred in Burgas, Bulgaria, last week, saying „We will find the way to respond in a manner that deters similar attacks from taking place. Eventually, our response will come.”

Moscow has received „firm assurances” from Damascus that its Syrian chemical arsenal is „fully safeguarded”, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told the state-owned Itar-Tass news agency.

„We have received firm assurances from Damascus that the security of this arsenal is fully safeguarded,” Gatilov told the agency in an interview published on Wednesday.

Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi acknowledged on Monday that the country had chemical weapons, and Western countries and Israel have expressed fears that chemical weapons could fall into the hands of militant groups as President Bashar al-Assad’s authority erodes.

The matter of Syria’s chemical weapons, meanwhile, continues to preoccupy the Arab world as well.

During a televised news conference Monday, Makdissi stressed that Syria’s chemical weapons are secure and would only be used in the case of an external attack.

„No chemical or biological weapons will ever be used, and I repeat, will never be used, during the crisis in Syria no matter what the developments inside Syria,” he said. „All of these types of weapons are in storage and under security and the direct supervision of the Syrian armed forces and will never be used unless Syria is exposed to external aggression.”

On Tuesday, however, the rebel Free Syrian Army said that the Syrian government has moved chemical weapons to airports on its borders.

„We in the joint command of the Free Syrian Army inside the country know very well the locations and positions of these weapons,” a statement from the FSA said.

„We also reveal that Assad has transferred some of these weapons and equipment for mixing chemical components to airports on the border.”

In the meantime, Syrian fighter jets unleashed sonic booms and helicopter gunships strafed rebels as they pressed their fight Tuesday into new neighborhoods in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. Farther south, ground troops combed Damascus after the nearly complete rout of the largest rebel assault yet on the capital.

„It’s the worst day of fighting in Aleppo so far, but I can’t tell what’s happening on the ground or who’s in control,” said a local writer who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. „This is bad because in the end it’s the civilians who will pay the price of this street fighting.”

Also Tuesday, Arab media outlets reported the defection of Syria’s envoy to Cyprus, Lamia Hariri, who fled to Qatar.

In more troubling news for the Assad regime on Tuesday, a former top military commander and one of Assad’s closest friends confirmed his defection from the regime.

Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass, son of a former defense minister, said in a video broadcast on Al-Arabiya TV that Syrians must work together to build a new country.

„I speak to you not as an official, but as a son of Syria, as a son of the Syrian Arab army that has rejected the criminal program of this corrupt regime,” Tlass said, dressed in a light blue shirt with an open collar, his gray hair tussled.

„Our duty today as Syrians is to unify for one goal, and that is to make our country free and democratic,” he said.

It was his first public appearance since he left Syria earlier this month. French officials later confirmed that he was in France.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that in light of the chaos on the ground inside Syria, U.S. intelligence was struggling to compile a clear picture of the Syrian opposition forces. According to sources who spoke to The Post, the CIA has been unable to establish a presence in Syria.

However, despite not having a full idea of who comprised the rebellion forces, a senior U.S. official told The Washington Post that the administration was considering expanding „non-lethal support.”

“But we’ve got to figure out who is over there first, and we don’t really know that,” another U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said. “It’s not like this is a new war. It’s been going on for 16 months.”

In Iran, a commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard has warned „hated Arab” rivals they could face repercussions for their efforts to topple the Tehran-backed Syrian regime.

Gen. Masoud Jazayeri did not specify any country or give details on the type of possible backlash, but Iran’s main Arab foe Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations such as Qatar are key supporters of the Syrian rebels.

„Soon the soil of Syria will be cleaned of the dirt of the enemy,” the semi-official Fars news agency quoted Jazayeri as saying.

He added that the „resistance” — meaning Assad’s government and its allies— „will settle scores with enemies one by one.”

Jazayeri, also a spokesman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that Assad’s regime has friends in the region poised to „strike out” — an apparent reference to forces that include Hezbollah and Hamas.

„Yet none of the friends of the Syrian government and the great front of resistance has entered the scene. If this happens, they will strike back hard at the enemy, particularly the hated Arabs,” Jazayeri was quoted as saying.