- LONDON (Reuters) - Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad was quoted by a British newspaper on Tuesday
as defending his country's right to acquire weapons of mass destruction
so long as it faced "aggression" by Israel.
-
- Assad was speaking in an interview with the Daily Telegraph,
which said he came closer than ever before to admitting that the Arab state
had such weapons, a U.S. charge Damascus has repeatedly denied in the past.
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- "We are a country which is (partly) occupied and
from time to time we are exposed to Israeli aggression," the newspaper
quoted Assad as saying when asked about the U.S. allegations.
-
- "It is natural for us to look for means to defend
ourselves. It is not difficult to get most of these weapons anywhere in
the world and they can be obtained at any time."
-
- Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967
Middle East war. Last October, the Israeli air force bombed an alleged
training camp for Palestinian militants near Damascus, its first air strike
inside Syria in almost three decades.
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- Assad reiterated Syria's call for a ban on weapons of
mass destruction throughout the Middle East including Israel and urged
the international community's support.
-
- Israel is believed to have about 200 nuclear warheads
but the Jewish state's policy is not to discuss the issue.
-
- Syria used the final days of its membership of the U.N.
Security Council, which ended on December 31, to push for a ban on nuclear,
biological and chemical weapons in the Middle East.
-
- The Syrian proposal, which sought to spotlight Israel's
suspected nuclear arms, was cold shouldered by the United States and Britain,
both permanent members of the Council with veto power.
-
- "Unless this applies to all countries, we are wasting
our time," said Assad, whose country is yet to sign an international
treaty that bans chemical weapons.
-
- Syria has come under fresh U.S. pressure over its alleged
arms stockpiles since Libya's announcement last month that it would abandon
secret efforts to build an atomic bomb and chemical weapons.
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- The Daily Telegraph quoted Assad as saying Libya's decision
to allow international inspectors to supervise the dismantling of weapons
of mass destruction programs was a "correct step."
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