BRUSSELS – NATO joined Washington in delivering a blunt warning to Damascus Tuesday against any use of chemical weapons. “The possible use of chemical weapons would be completely unacceptable to the whole international community and and I would expect an immediate reaction from the international community,” NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen said. France said Tuesday it was aware the Syrian government was possibly moving chemical weapons on military bases and said foreign powers would be forced to act if it used such arms. “Any use of chemical weapons by (Syrian President) Bashar Al-Assad or officials under his orders would be unacceptable,” Deputy Foreign Ministry spokesman Vincent Floreani told reporters. “The leaders in Damascus must be made aware that the international community is watching them and will not stand by without a reaction if these weapons were to be used.” US President Barack Obama Monday told Assad not to use chemical weapons against his own people. “I want to make it absolutely clear to Assad and those under his command, the world is watching, the use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable,” Obama said. “If you make the tragic mistake of using these weapons, there will be consequences and you will be held accountable.” A US official said that Syria had begun mixing chemicals that could be used to make sarin, a deadly nerve agent, while CNN reported Damascus could use the gas in a limited artillery attack on advancing rebels. Washington fears that battlefield advances by rebels could prompt Assad to use chemical arms, or that such stocks could become insecure or find their way into the hands of hostile groups. – Agencies
