UN chief warns Syria's Assad on chemical weapons

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday urged Syria's regime against using its stockpile of chemical weapons, warning of "huge consequences" if Bashar Assad resorts to such weapons of mass destruction.                 

Ban also suggested that he would not favor an asylum deal for the Syrian leader as a way to end the country's civil war and cautioned that the United Nations doesn't allow anyone "impunity."               

"I again urge in the strongest possible terms that they must not consider using this kind of deadly weapons of mass destruction," Ban told The Associated Press, speaking on the sidelines of a climate conference in Qatar.              

"I have warned that if in any case this should be used, then there will be huge consequences. And they should be accountable," he said of the Syrian regime.              

Syria is believed to have hundreds, if not thousands, of tons of chemical agents, including mustard gas, a blistering agent, and the more lethal nerve agents sarin and VX, experts say.                
Damascus has said it would not use such weapons on his own people even if it had them. Syria is party to the 1925 Geneva Protocol banning chemical weapons in war.                 

U.S. intelligence has seen signs that Syria is moving materials inside chemical weapons facilities recently, though it is unsure what the movement means. Still, U.S. officials said the White House and its allies are weighing military options should they decide to secure Syria's chemical and biological weapons.             

In Qatar, the U.N. chief was asked about the potential for an asylum deal that would remove Assad from power. The Syrian president vowed in an interview with Russia Today last month that he would never be forced into exile and that he would "live and die in Syria."             

 "Whoever commits (a) gross violation of human rights must be held accountable and should be brought to justice. This is a fundamental principle," Ban said.               

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon had arrived Thursday morning to Baghdad following a trip to Kuwait. Upon his arrival he met with Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.                  
The UN front man had called for “a new era” in relations between Iraq and Kuwait.          


AP/LBCI