TheRepublic.com - Chemical weapons News

Turkey testing Syrians for chemical weapon wounds

Thu, 09 May 2013 12:11:40 -0400

ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey is testing injured Syrians seeking treatment across the border for chemical weapon wounds, the foreign minister said Thursday.

NBC's Richard Engel back to Syria after kidnapping

Wed, 08 May 2013 18:17:01 -0400

NEW YORK - NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel is back quickly and safely from his first trip to Syria since he and his team were kidnapped and held captive there last December.

Officials: Israel launches airstrike into Syria

Fri, 03 May 2013 23:31:23 -0400

WASHINGTON - Israel launched an airstrike into Syria, apparently targeting a suspected weapons site, U.S. officials said Friday night.

Obama doesn't foresee US ground troops in Syria

Fri, 03 May 2013 20:52:29 -0400

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica - President Barack Obama said Friday he doesn't foresee any circumstance requiring the U.S. to send ground troops into Syria, even as Washington pursues more evidence about the regime's purported use of chemical weapons.

Obama: Will 'stay on' Syria chemical weapons issue

Fri, 03 May 2013 19:55:33 -0400

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica - President Barack Obama says the United States will keep pressure on Syria while investigating whether the government has used chemical weapons against its people, but that it must proceed carefully.

Syrian air defenses pose formidable challenge

Thu, 02 May 2013 15:10:44 -0400

BEIRUT - International military action against Syria's government over its alleged use of chemical weapons would run up against one of the Middle East's most formidable air defenses, a system bolstered in recent years by top-of-the-line Russian hardware.

Syrian envoy: Chemical weapons can't be tolerated

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:00:35 -0400

UNITED NATIONS - Syria's U.N. ambassador said Tuesday that the use of chemical weapons is not only "a red line" but "a blood line" that cannot be tolerated and again demanded a U.N. investigation of an alleged chemical weapons attack in Aleppo that it blames on rebels.

Iran: chemicals 'red line' but seeks rebel probe

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 10:21:34 -0400

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's foreign minister is insisting that use of chemical weapons in Syria would also be a "red line" for Tehran, but suggests rebel forces should be investigated rather than the Islamic Republic's allies in Damascus.

Turkey vigilant for chemicals with wounded Syrians

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:28:32 -0400

ANKARA, Turkey - Turkish border authorities decontaminated a group of wounded Syrians as they entered Turkey and hospital staff wore protective equipment to treat them because some claimed they may have come under a chemical attack in Syria, an official said Tuesday.

Syrian prime minister escapes bombing in Damascus

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:10:45 -0400

DAMASCUS, Syria - Syria's prime minister narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in the heart of the heavily defended capital Monday, state media said, laying bare the vulnerability of President Bashar Assad's regime.

Pattern seen in alleged chemical arms use in Syria

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 15:17:47 -0400

BEIRUT - The instances in which chemical weapons are alleged to have been used in Syria were purportedly small in scale: nothing along the lines of Saddam Hussein's 1988 attack in Kurdish Iraq that killed thousands.

Hagel: Israel did not tell him of intel on Syria

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:07:10 -0400

CAIRO - U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel indicated on Wednesday that he was caught by surprise when Israeli officials publicly revealed their assessment that Syria has used chemical weapons in its civil war.

Dutch court: compensation for gas attack survivors

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 07:58:41 -0400

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - A Dutch court on Wednesday ordered a businessman convicted of selling Saddam Hussein raw materials for mustard gas to pay compensation to victims of chemical weapon attacks by the late Iraqi dictator's regime.

Israeli focus on Syria gives Hagel respite on Iran

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 22:03:55 -0400

JERUSALEM - On Chuck Hagel's inaugural visit to Israel as U.S. defense secretary, Syria surpassed Iran as the security threat of greatest urgency to the U.S.' closest Mideast ally. That quite unexpectedly gave the new Pentagon chief a temporary respite from the delicate duty of tempering Israeli warnings about attacking Iran to stop it from building a nuclear bomb.

Kerry: NATO needs plan for Syrian chemical weapons

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:25:45 -0400

BRUSSELS - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged NATO on Tuesday to prepare for the possible use of chemical weapons by Syria on the same day that a senior Israeli military intelligence official said Syrian President Bashar Assad had used such weapons last month in his battle against insurgents.

US not sure Syria's Assad used chemical arms

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:57:45 -0400

WASHINGTON - The White House says the U.S. hasn't yet come to the conclusion that Syrian President Bashar Assad has used chemical weapons even though close U.S. allies say he has.

US doubles aid to Syrian rebels, who want more

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 20:20:22 -0400

ISTANBUL - The United States said Sunday that it will double its non-lethal assistance to Syria's opposition as the rebels' top supporters vowed to enhance and expand their backing of the two-year battle to oust President Bashar Assad's regime.