Syria will ‘use its chemical weapons on foreign threat’

Syria acknowledged for the first time that it had chemical and biological weapons, saying they could be used if the country faced foreign intervention.

International pressure on president Bashar al-Assad has escalated dramatically in the last week with a rebel offensive in the two biggest cities and a devastating bomb attack which killed four members of his inner circle in Damascus.

Assad’s forces have launched fierce counter-offensives, reflecting his determination to hold on to power even at great cost and he has dismissed an Arab offer to grant him a safe exit in return for a swift step down.

Jihad Makdissi, foreign ministry spokesman, said the army would not use chemical weapons to crush rebels but they could be used against forces from outside the country.

“Any chemical or bacterial weapons will never be used... during the crisis in Syria regardless of the developments,” he said.

“These weapons are stored and secured by Syrian military forces and under its direct supervision and will never be used unless Syria faces external aggression.”

Damascus has not signed a 1992 international convention that bans the use, production or stockpiling of chemical weapons, but officials in the past have denied that it had any stockpiles.

As violence escalates in Syria, insurgents have said they fear Assad’s forces will resort to non-conventional weapons as they seek to claw back rebel gains across the country.

Western and Israeli countries have also expressed fears that chemical weapons could fall into the hands of militant groups as Assad’s authority erodes.

Defying Arab foreign ministers who offered Assad a “safe exit” if he stepped down swiftly, the Syrian leader has waged a counter- attack in the capital to defeat rebels district by district.

Arab League ministers meeting in Doha urged the opposition and the rebel Free Syrian Army to form a transitional government, Qatari prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said.

Makdissi condemned calls for Assad to step down at a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Qatar over the weekend, calling it a “flagrant intervention” in Syria’s internal affairs.

The fighting in Damascus, Aleppo and the eastern city of Deir al-Zor has been some of the fiercest yet and showed Assad’s determination to avenge the bomb attack, the most spectacular blow in a 16-month-old uprising against four decades of rule by the Assad family.

Rebels were driven from Mezzeh, the diplomatic district of Damascus on Sunday, opposition activists and residents said, and over 1,000 government troops and allied militiamen poured into the area, backed by armoured vehicles, tanks and bulldozers.

Activists said government forces executed at least 20 men, aged about 20 to 30. “Most had bullet holes, one with as many as 18. Three had their hands tied behind their back. Some of the men were in their pyjamas.

“Several had their legs broken or fingers missing. Others were stabbed with knifes,” said Bashir al-Kheir, one of the activists.