Syria: We won't Use Chemical Weapons on Israel

Source : ''Israel'' National News

Damascus will not use chemical weapons against its own citizens, or in the event of war with its neighbor Israel, Syria's Information Minister was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said Syria would not resort to chemical weapons even if it had to go to war with Israel and use "all resources," reported Beirut-based Al Akhbar, citing the Interfax news agency.

"Even if Syria does have chemical weapons, our leadership and our military w use them either against Syrians or against Israelis, above all for moral reason secondarily on legal and political grounds," Zoubi reportedly said at a Mosco university.

Syria last year acknowledged that it had chemical and biological weapons an could use them if foreign countries intervened.

The United States has warned that any use of chemical weapons in Syria's civ would be a "red line" that could trigger intervention.

The Syrian government and rebels each accused the other of launching a che attack near the northern city of Aleppo last month.

A top Israel intelligence officer said Tuesday that the Syrian regime has alrea chemical weapons in the civil war.

 

Syria rebels must distance themselves from "terrorists" - Westerwelle

Source : Strategic-Culture.org

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Saturday the Syrian opposition must distance itself from "terrorist and extremist" forces and said Germany was sceptical about supplying weapons to the rebels.

"We expect from the opposition that they clearly distance themselves in Syria from terrorist and extremist forces," Westerwelle told reporters in Istanbul at a meeting of Syrian opposition leaders and their international backers.

"We are sceptical as the German government when it comes to delivering weapons because we are concerned that weapons could fall into the wrong, namely extremist, hands, but it is a matter that must now be discussed in the European Union."

Al-Qaeda prisoners escape in Baghdad, officials say

Source : http://english.alarabiya.net

At least a dozen inmates, including several prisoners linked to Al-Qaeda who have been sentenced to death, escaped from a jail north of Baghdad early on Friday, security officials said.

Sources mooted the possibility of collusion on the part of prison guards in allowing the jailbreak, which occurred shortly after midnight in the town of Taji, 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the capital.

An interior ministry official said all 12 prisoners who escaped were Iraqis, but a military source put the number of escapees at 16.

"They escaped from Taji prison after they got hold of the guards' weapons," said the military officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"It could be there was cooperation from the guards."

The officer said most of the escapees were linked to Al-Qaeda's front group the Islamic State of Iraq, while the interior ministry official said several had been sentenced to death. Jailbreaks and prison unrest are relatively common in Iraq.

On September 27, more than 100 prisoners escaped from a jail in Tikrit, north of Baghdad, although several were killed or recaptured in subsequent weeks, officials said.

In March last year, 19 inmates escaped from a prison in the northern city of Kirkuk, and last January, 11 prisoners tunneled out of a prison in the northern Kurdish province of Dohuk.

Lebanon Muslim Brotherhood lauds Iran 6-point peace plan for Syria

Source : Islamic Invitation Turkey

The secretary general of al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, the Lebanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, has lauded Iran’s six-point peace plan to settle the unrest in Syria, urging all parties to remain committed to the proposal to secure its implementation.

According to Press TV, Ibrahim al-Masri in a meeting with Iran’s Ambassador to Beirut Ghazanfar Roknabadi on Friday said: “The fulfillment of such plans requires the commitment of all sides and we hope that we will witness the end of conflicts and implementation of reforms in Syria in the near future.” During the meeting, the two sides discussed regional developments. Roknabadi and al-Masri called for efforts to settle the unrest in Syria through negotiations and political approaches. They also stressed the importance of maintaining stability in Lebanon and adopting measures to prevent the impact of Syria crisis on the country. On December 16, 2012, Iran unveiled the details of its six-point plan to resolve the ongoing crisis in Syria, which calls for an immediate end to all violent and armed acts. The plan calls for sending humanitarian aid to Syrians following the end of all conflicts, lifting all economic sanctions imposed against the country, and facilitating the return of displaced Syrians to their homes. It also urges talks between the Syrian government and the representatives of all Syrian groups regardless of their political and social tendencies in order to form a national reconciliation committee.