Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Sunday that his country is capable of confronting any external aggression, in reference to a possible U.S.-led strike against his country, as Iran, his staunchest ally, pledged constant support to Damascus in face of escalating pressures.
A plane carrying 100 tonnes of UN emergency supplies to assist Syrian refugee children and families arrived Sunday evening in north Iraq, officials of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) told reporters here.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Wednesday that information from a wide variety of sources suggested the Syrian government had used chemical weapons in attacks near the Syrian capital, Damascus last week.
The government of Syria on Wednesday asked the world body to investigate three alleged chemical attacks carried out by rebels in the Damascus suburbs last week, a Syrian envoy told reporters here.
French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday said France is ready to punish the perpetrators of the suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria and that all options were being discussed in response to "this despicable act."
Reports about an imminent U.S. strike against the backdrop of the Syrian government's alleged use of chemical weapons has caused panic in the Syrian markets and triggered off a new and sharp decline in the Syrian pound.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his security cabinet Tuesday on U.S. threat of a military action against neighboring Syria over alleged use of chemical weapons by government troops, Israel's Army Radio reported.
UN political chief Jeffrey Feltman appreciated Iran's statement that it is committed to facilitate a political solution to end the Syrian crisis, a UN spokesperson said Tuesday.
Syria's state media on Monday blamed "armed terrorist groups" for firing at the UN chemical investigation team in the countryside of Damascus.
Western claims that the Syrian government used chemical weapons were "an insult to common sense," Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview with a Russian newspaper published Monday.
Russian Foreign Ministry on Sunday urged all outside powers involved in the Syrian crisis to exercise restraints and give up potential armed intervention.
U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday conversed with his French counterpart Francois Hollande over the phone to discuss possible coordinated response to the alleged chemical weapons use by Syrian government, the White House said.
The UN investigation team will start a on-site fact-finding probe into the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria on Monday, said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a statement through his spokesperson.
The U.S. government said Thursday that it is unable to conclusively determine that chemical weapons were used in Syria, as it is scrambling to gather all possible information on what happened in the war-torn country that reportedly killed hundreds of people.
A recent survey showed that the reconstruction of conflict-devastated Syria would require some six million workers and between 60 and 200 billion U.S. dollars.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday said the latest alleged chemical weapons attack happening in the suburbs of Damascus, the capital of Syria, needs to be investigated by the world body "without delay."
The Syrian opposition accused President Bashar al-Assad's forces of killing 1,193 people in chemical weapon attacks in suburbs of Damascus on Wednesday.
简体中文
