Eurasia Press & News
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday that the threat of military action should remain on the table to make Syria keep its promises on giving up chemical weapons.
Speaking after he met British Prime Minister David Cameron in London, Rasmussen welcomed the recent US-Russian agreement under which the Assad regime says it will give up its poison gas stocks.
Damascus said earlier Wednesday it was confident the UN Security Council will not adopt a resolution on its chemical weapons under Chapter VII, which could allow the use of force.
But Rasmussen said: “I would expect the Syrian regime to fully comply with the demands of the international community and in the case of non-compliance we will need a very firm international response.”
“I do believe that the credible threat of military action was the reason why diplomacy got a chance and I think in order to keep momentum in the diplomatic and political process the military option should still be on the table,” he told reporters in Downing Street.
The alliance chief said it was “crucial that the UN Security Council expeditiously adopts a firm resolution that can constitute the framework for a swift, secure and verifiable elimination of all chemical weapons in Syria”.
Rasmussen said the use of chemical weapons “is a crime, is a violation of international law and those responsible must be held accountable”.
