SALON

Thursday, Dec 6, 2012 10:45 AM UTC

Syria blasts NATO move on Patriot missiles

By

Topics: From the Wires,

Syria blasts NATO move on Patriot missilesA Sunni gunman fires his weapon during clashes that erupted between pro and anti-Syrian regime gunmen in the northern port city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012. Gunmen loyal to opposite sides in neighboring Syria's civil war battled in the streets of northern Lebanon and the death toll from two days of fighting was at least five killed and 45 wounded, officials said. The fighting comes at a time of deep uncertainty in Syria, with rebels closing in on President Bashar Assad's seat of power in Damascus. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)(Credit: AP)

BEIRUT (AP) — A senior Damascus official on Thursday blasted NATO’s move to provide Turkey with Patriot missiles to be deployed along its border with Syria, denouncing the development as a “provocative” step.

The missiles would not affect the determination of President Bashar Assad’s government to crush the “terrorists,” insisted deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, using the regime term for rebels fighting to topple Assad.

The comments came as Germany’s Cabinet approved sending German Patriot air defense missiles to NATO member Turkey, in a major step toward possible Western military role in the Syrian conflict.

German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere told reporters that two batteries with a total of 400 soldiers would be sent to the border area under NATO command for one year, although the deployment could be shortened.

The announcement also appeared to be a message to Assad’s regime at a time when Washington and other governments fear Syria may be readying its chemical weapons stockpiles for possible use.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reiterated concerns Wednesday that “an increasingly desperate Assad regime might turn to chemical weapons” or lose control of them to militant groups.

In recent days, U.S. intelligence has detected signs the Syrian regime was moving chemical weapons components around within several sites, according to a senior U.S. defense official and two U.S. officials. This type of activity had not been detected before and one of the U.S. officials said it bears further scrutiny.

Mekdad, the Damascus official, denounced the NATO move and the chemical weapons “chorus” as part of a conspiracy that is possibly laying out the foundations for a military intervention in Syria.

Syria has been careful not to confirm it has chemical weapons while insisting it would never use such weapons against its own people

“I repeat for the hundredth time that even if such weapons exist in Syria, they will not be used against the Syrian people,” Mekdad said, speaking in an interview with Lebanon’s Al-Manar TV station. “We cannot possibly commit suicide, Syria is a responsible country.”

Mekdad added that the Syrian government is worried the U.S. or some European countries could provide “terrorist” organizations in Syria with chemical weapons to use, then blame the government.

He also said accusations that Syria would use these weapons against its own people were “disgusting.”

Asked about NATO’s approval to send Patriot missiles to Turkey, Mekdad said the Turkish government was “bankrupt” and was “begging for assistance from NATO countries.”

“The Turkish move and NATO’s support for it is a provocative move, part of psychological warfare against Syria,” he said. “But if they think this will affect our determination to fight the terrorists … they are wrong.”

He warned that any foreign military intervention against Syria will be “catastrophic” with severe consequences.

The decision to send Patriot air defense missiles to Turkey must be endorsed by the German Parliament, but approval is all but assured. The Dutch Cabinet is expected to announce approval Friday, contingent on parliamentary approval.

De Maziere said the overall mission was also expected to include two batteries each from the Netherlands and the United States.

The Western alliance decided this week to approve sending the weapons to prevent cross-border attacks against Turkey after mortar rounds and shells from Syria killed five Turks.

German officials stressed that the missiles will only be used to defend Turkish territory and would not be a part of any “no fly zone” over Syrian territory.

“Nobody knows what such a regime is capable of and that is why we are acting protectively here,” Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said.

Officials said the Patriots will be programmed so that they can intercept only Syrian weapons that cross into Turkish airspace. They aren’t allowed to penetrate Syrian territory pre-emptively. That means they would have no immediate effect on any Syrian government offensives — chemical or conventional — that remain strictly inside the country’s national borders.

Due to the complexity and size of the Patriot batteries — including their radars, command-and-control centers, communications and support facilities — they will probably have to travel by sea, NATO officials said.

They probably won’t arrive in Turkey for another month, officials predicted.

___

Associated Press writer David Rising in Berlin contributed to this report.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
FBI reportedly joins Bachmann campaign finance probe
238 points239 points | 15 comments
vote
Paul Krugman’s right: Austerity kills. "In an economy where we’re all in the same boat, one person’s spending is another person’s income. So when the government cuts spending, it reduces people’s income, leading to less business, more unemployment, and a vicious spiral of slowing down the economy."
237 points238 points | 217 comments
vote
Jon Karl makes things worse: He regrets “inaccurate” Benghazi email but says his story based on it “still entirely stands.” Really. ABC News?
206 points207 points | 31 comments
vote
“Jodorowsky’s Dune”: The sci-fi classic that never was.
76 points77 points | 16 comments
vote
Austerity Kills: Brian McArdle, a 57-year-old man who had had two strokes and could barely walk, was found "fit for work" by a government subcontractor, and had his benefits stopped. He died the next day.
68 points69 points | 4 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations