Syria's armed forces have taken steps to secure deadly chemical weapons in response to mounting international concern that they could fall into rebel or terrorist hands or be accidentally damaged in fighting, according to Israeli officials.
Syria's undeclared chemical arsenal, the largest in the Arab world, is believed to include mustard gas as well as nerve agents such as Sarin, Tabun and VX, which have been "weaponised, tested and deployed", according to the Israelis, for whom Syria is a priority intelligence target.
US sources said Bashar al-Assad's forces had started to move part of the stockpile out of storage facilities, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. Israeli officials monitoring the escalating violence believe that Damascus is working to protect its chemical warfare arsenal.
"It is dispersed and under the control of a dedicated army unit that has a high degree of loyalty to the regime and is commanded by senior Alawites [Assad's sect]," said a senior official in Jerusalem. "It has not been involved in the nitty-gritty of fighting. It has been impacted by it but has not been used to fight the people. There are signs that Syria has understood the problem." » | Ian Black in Jerusalem | Friday, July 13, 2012
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