US warns Syria over chemical weapons

The United States has warned that Syrian officials would be "held accountable" if they failed to safeguard the country's chemical weapons after reports that some had been moved from their storage location.

Intelligence reports cited by the Wall Street Journal suggested some chemical weapons were being transferred, though the reasons for the transfers were unclear.

It said some US officials feared the weapons could be used against rebels or civilians, while others believed the material was being deliberately hidden from armed opposition groups or Western powers.

"We have repeatedly made it clear that the Syrian government has a responsibility to safeguard its stockpiles of chemical weapons," said Victoria Nuland, spokesman for the US State Department.

"The international community will hold accountable any Syrian officials who fail to meet that obligation," she added in a statement during a trip by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Cambodia.
The WSJ said the Obama administration was "particularly worried about Syria's stocks of sarin gas, the deadly and versatile nerve agent".
Syria is also believed to have reserves of mustard gas and cyanide in what is believed to be the world’s largest stockpile.
More than 15,000 people have been killed in violence since an uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime broke out in March last year, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Syria is one of eight states - along with Israel and Egypt - that have not joined the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, which means the world's chemical weapons watchdog has no jurisdiction to intervene there.
The Assad government has in the past denied having weapons of mass destruction.