The Syrian regime has “dozens of 500-lb bombs” being armed with Sarin nerve gas, according to reports of satellite imagery from seen by the Pentagon at the end of last year.
The bombs were being loaded on to vehicles near Syrian airbases and could be airborne within two hours, if President Bashar al-Assad ordered their use, the officials told President Barack Obama.
The details of the briefing were released to the New York Times and explain a sudden warning issued by Mr Obama to the Syrian regime at the beginning of December.
His statement, which said that any use of chemical weapons would have “consequences” and that “the world would act”, was followed by private messages to the Syrian authorities from Russia and neighbours including Turkey and Iraq that they would be held “personally responsible”.
Those messages, which diplomats told the paper were coordinated from American, European and Arab capitals, seem to have been enough to deter the weapons’ use for the time being, if it were intended.
Leon Panetta, the US Defence Secretary, who said the regime would cross a “red line” triggering military intervention if it used the bombs, followed up a week later by saying the worst fears were over.
Whether Syria might use chemical weapons has become one of the most contentious issues surrounding the crisis.
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