Syria's Bashar al-Assad condemns US over 'war' threat
Baku, September 24 (AZERTAC). Syrian President Bashar Assad told Chinese state TV that his government will work with international experts to allow access to its chemical weapons sites, but attacked the US over its "excuses for war".
Assad said his government will allow international experts access to its chemical weapons sites, but cautioned that rebels might block them from reaching some of the locations.
"It should not be a problem in principle. But, as I said, if some countries give orders to those terrorists to stop experts' arrival and accuse the Syrian government for doing it, then the answer would be different," he told Chinese broadcaster CCTV.
During the interview filmed on Sunday in Damascus, Assad said Syria had already handed over a list of chemical weapons to an international agency.
No details have been released of what is in the Syrian declarations.
US officials said last week that Washington and Moscow agreed that Syria had roughly 1,100 tonnes of chemical weapons agents and precursors, including blister agents, such as mustard gas and nerve agents like sarin.
"Syria has been producing chemical weapons for decades now. It's natural that they are large in quantity. We are a country in a state of war, with some lands having been occupied for more than 40 years," Assad said when asked to confirm the amount.
"Any country or army possessing chemical weapons will store them in a special way to stop them from falling into the hands of terrorists or other groups that might come from hostile countries. But Syria is not worried by this problem as the chemical weapons are placed in safe areas where the Syrian army has complete control," he added.
The revelations of Syria's chemical weapons arsenal became public after an August attack near Damascus that the US and its Western allies say contained a nerve agent and killed 1,400 people.
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