On Tuesday, with the international community demanding military response to the suspected use of chemical weapons in Syria, the country’s Foreign Minister, Walid Moallem indicated the government’s stand in a news conference: “Syria is not easy to swallow,” said Moallem, “We have the materials to defend ourselves. We will surprise others.”
With China and Russia remaining on the borderlines and refusing to join the West in its moves against Syria – the situation is serious.
US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has expressed readiness to make military strikes when the President commands and has told the media that assets are already in place. At the same time US Secretary of State John Kerry has said that the proof of Syria using chemical weapons is “undeniable.”
Are we going to have another Iraq on our hands?
The British Prime Minister’s office has gone to the extent of recalling lawmakers from their vacation to have a vote on the response to the alleged chemical attacks in Syria.
His office said the UK military was in the process of making ready for a Syrian operation.
While Syrian officials are blaming rebels for the deaths of about 1,300 civilians who died in the alleged chemical weapons attack. Rebels and the western nations hold otherwise.
Things seem to be gearing up like before the Iraq war.
The Pentagon has already sent four warships with cruise missiles and positioned them in an area from where targets within Syria can be struck.
John Kerry told the media, “We know that the Syrian regime maintains custody of these chemical weapons. We know that the Syrian regime has the capacity to do this with rockets. We know that the regime has been determined to clear the opposition from those very places where the attacks took place.”
He also accused Syria of systematically destroying evidence of last week’s attack by continuing attacks on the area.
The Syrian Foreign Minister, however, said at a news conference, “We all hear the drums of war … They want to attack Syria. I believe to use chemical weapons as a pretext is not right.”
Russia came out in support of Syria, and on Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement accusing the US was trying to “create artificial groundless excuses for military intervention.”