Syria is Capable of External Attack, Syrian President Says

A day after US President Barack Obama called for a planned military strike against Syria, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said that his country is capable of confronting any external attack, Aljazeera.net said on Monday.

“Syria … is capable of confronting any external aggression,” state television quoted Assad as saying on Sunday at a meeting with Iranian officials.

“The American threats of launching an attack against Syria will not discourage Syria away from its principles … or its fight against terrorism supported by some regional and Western countries, first and foremost the United States of America.”the news added.

Syria generally refers to rebels fighting to topple Assad as “terrorists”.

The news continued that the comments came as John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, said his government had obtained evidence that sarin gas was used in an attack in Syria last month that the US claims killed 1,400 people. Hair and blood samples provided to the US from first responders on the scene of last month’s attack in Damascus “have tested positive for signatures of sarin,” Kerry told NBC and CNN television on Sunday.

Kerry has said the “case is building” for a military attack against the regime of Assad. However, the evidence has yet to be presented to the public, Aljazeera.net said.

The Assad regime is known to have stockpiles of sarin, a deadly nerve agent, although the regime has claimed that rebels have used the substance in attacks. The statements come a day after Obama stepped back from his threat to launch an attack unilaterally, instead saying he would consult the US Congress before any such action, the news said.

US President Obama on Saturday said the US had presented a “powerful case” linking the Assad regime to the attack in Ghouta on August 21, and that the US military was prepared to launch a “limited” strike.

Congress is due back from its summer recess on September 9.

Aljazeera news revealed that a French government source meanwhile told the AFP news agency that officials would soon declassify secret defence documents detailing Syria’s chemical arsenal.

The comment came after the French Journal du Dimanche newspaper said Syria had 1,000 tonnes of chemicals including sarin and mustard gas, and was developing a powerful agent that was far more toxic than sarin, Aljazeera news said.

“The citations from the notes are correct,” the source said. “The government plans to make public the declassified documents on the Syrian chemical arms programme.” Aljazeera news reported.

Source: Aljazeera.net