Syria Denies Use of Starvation, Chlorine Bombs
CNN reports that Assad’s deputy foreign minister Faisal Mekdad has denied claims by Human Rights Watch and other groups that the Syrian government has been using starvation tactics and dropping chlorine gas bombs on civilian areas.
“I assure you 100% that chlorine gas has never been used by the government,” he told the network’s Fred Pleitgen.
“His assertion came shortly after HRW said it had strong evidence that showed regime forces carried out a chlorine gas attack in the rebel-held village of Kfar Zeita. According to the rights group, 11 people were killed and 500 were injured in three towns following the gas attack.”
But Mekdad “did acknowledge that the government is not fighting lightly against opposition forces. ‘My friend, we shall not attack them with flowers, because they are not attacking us with flowers,’ he said. ‘They are attacking with most sophisticated weapons, given to them by the United States, given to them by Europe, given to them by Turkey, given to them by the Saudis and others.’”
U.S. Projects Tough Stance to Both Sides of Syria War
The New York Times reports that with Syria peace prospects “in a basic state of collapse,” the U.S., seeking to projected a tougher stance, conducted military exercises Wednesday with Jordan and referred to two leaders of Syrian jihadist groups as “global terrorists” — “a warning that they should be ostracized by other members of the Western-backed insurgency fighting President Bashar al-Assad.”
The moves came the day after Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N.’s Syria envoy, resigned his post, expressing frustration with the U.N. Security Council’s inability to take stronger action in the conflict.
Jordanian media “said the joint military exercises with the United States included ground and air forces. Agence France-Presse said they were held in and around the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in eastern Jordan, which has long been regarded as a likely staging ground for any possible American military intervention in Syria. The exercises were held as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, on a visit to the Middle East, conferred with senior Jordanian political and military leaders.”
Friends of Syria Group Set for London Talks
The BBC reports that foreign ministers from 11 Arab and Western countries, including John Kerry, will gather in London to discuss both Syria’s humanitarian situation and new ways of supporting the country’s fractured opposition.
“The Friends of Syria group is made up of Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the U.K. and the U.S. It was set up in 2012 in response to moves by Russia and China to block U.N. resolutions on Syria.
“A U.K. Foreign Office spokesman said it was ‘the right time’ for countries who support a democratic future for Syria to come together. ‘Foreign ministers will discuss how best to significantly step up our support to the Syrian opposition, make urgent progress on improving the deteriorating humanitarian crisis and reinvigorate a political process that has stalled due to regime intransigence.’”
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