US trying to block Syrian arms shipments, military

White House, Washington DC The US administration has been quietly trying to block arms and oil shipments from Iran to Syria in a bid to accelerate the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, The Wall Street Journal reported early Monday, as Washington declared that it would “hold accountable” any Syrian official involved in the release or use of the country’s chemical weapons.
Citing unnamed US officials, the newspaper said the efforts are aimed at getting Iraq to close its airspace to flights between Iran and Syria, flights that US intelligence believes are carrying arms for Syrian pro-government forces.
According to The Journal, Washington has also tried to keep ships believed to be carrying arms and fuel for Syria from passing through the Suez Canal.
One ship, the Amin, currently seeking permission to enter the canal is owned by a subsidiary of Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, the report said.
US officials are holding talks with the Egyptian government in an effort to block the Amin’s passage, arguing that it isn’t properly flagged and doesn’t have internationally recognised insurance, the paper noted.
It added that the United States also has been providing intelligence about Syria to the Turkish and Jordanian militaries working closely with the rebels.
This information includes imagery from military satellites and other surveillance equipment that provides details about Syrian military sites that could be helpful to the rebels, The Journal pointed out.
US officials acknowledge that despite their efforts, some shipments of arms and fuel for Syria have slipped through.
The United States also declared Sunday that it would “hold accountable” any Syrian official involved in the release or use of the country’s chemical weapons.
Fears have been rising in the West after reports that Assad might be prepared to use his arsenal of chemical weapons to save his embattled regime.
The US is “actively consulting with Syria’s neighbours and our friends in the international community to underscore our common concern about the security of these weapons and the Syrian government's obligation to secure them," said White House spokesman James Carney.
“There are a variety of ways that a government or individuals can be held accountable for this kind of behavior that would result in the deliberate release of chemical weapons or use of chemical weapons,” Carney said.
“I wouldn’t want to speculate about what particular measures would be taken.”
Syria’s defected ambassador to Iraq, Nawaf Fares, said in a July 16 interview with the BBC that he was “convinced” Assad would draw on his stocks of chemical weapons if cornered.
Fares’ comments were supported by members of the rebel Syrian Free Army.
Intelligence from the region suggested that chemical weapons were on the move, although the reasons were unclear, according to a report earlier this month by The Wall Street Journal.
Neighbouring Jordan’s King Abdullah II also said that in the event of a descent into all-out war, chemical arms could fall into extremist hands, including those of rebel groups.
“Our information is that there is a presence of al-Qaeda in certain regions inside Syria, and has been there for a while,” he told CNN Wednesday.
“And, again, one of the worst case scenarios as we are obviously trying to look for a political solution would be if some of those chemical stockpiles were to fall into unfriendly hands,” he warned.
srael will "have to act" if the Syrian regime collapses and there is a risk Syria's chemical weapons and missiles could fall into the hands of militant groups, the Jewish state's prime minister warned.The deteriorating situation of President Assad's regime is also stoking Israeli fears that militants affiliated with Lebanon's Hezbollah group or the al-Qaeda militant network could raid Syrian military arsenals for chemicals weapons or missiles that could strike Israel.
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Israel had not considered specifically trying to cross the border to seize the weapons. "There are other possibilities," he said in an interview on Fox News.
Over the weekend, defence minister Ehud Barak said Israel would be prepared to attack Syrian weapons arsenals should the need arise.
Netanyahu said preventing Syria's weapons from falling into the wrong hands was key to Israeli security. "Could you imagine Hezbollah, the people who are conducting with Iran all these terror attacks around the world - could you imagine them having chemical weapons? It would be like al Qaida having chemical weapons," he said.
"It's something that is not acceptable to us, not acceptable to the United States and to any peaceable country in the world. So I think that this is something we'll have to act to stop if the need arises. And the need might arise if there's a regime collapse, but not a regime change."
When asked whether Israel was prepared to act alone, Netanyahu said Syria's stockpile was a "common concern" and that "we'd have to see if there was a common action to address that concern".
Netanyahu said he believed the fall of the regime was inevitable, but that it could take days, weeks or months.
Amos Gilad, a senior Israeli Defence Ministry official, told Israel's Army Radio yesterday that "right now, they (the Syrian regime) are maintaining control of these arsenals as best they can".
Barak made it clear that Israel was preparing for the worst. "I've ordered the Israeli military to prepare for a situation where we would have to weigh the possibility of carrying out an attack" against Syrian weapons arsenals, he said.