* No evidence of rebel use – PM Cameron’s spokesman
* Kerry says Assad cannot be part of transition government
* Israel asks Russia not to sell Syria defence missiles
By Andrew Roche
LONDON, May 9 (Reuters) – Britain said on Thursday it
believed it was “very likely” the Syrian government had used
chemical weapons, and Turkey said it was testing victims of the
Syrian civil war for traces of such substances.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed gratitude to
Russia for its willingness to try to arrange a “Geneva two”
conference to negotiate an end to the conflict, in a sign of a
thawing of the long diplomatic chill between Washington and
Moscow, Syria’s strongest ally.
Damascus and the head of the Arab League welcomed the
apparent rapprochement between the United States and Russia this
week. Syrian opposition leaders are sceptical of an initiative
they fear might let President Bashar al-Assad hang on to power.
Kerry, in Rome, said however a transition government would
have to have the “mutual consent of both sides, which clearly
means that in our judgment President Assad will not be a
component of that transitional government”.
Syria’s foreign ministry said Damascus was convinced by the
“the firm Russian stance which is based on the U.N. principles
of non-interference in internal affairs or the threat to use
force against the safety of any state”.
Israel has asked Russia not to sell Syria an advanced air
defence system which would help Assad fend off foreign military
intervention as he battles a more than two-year-old rebellion.
The S-300 missile is designed to shoot down planes and
missiles at 125-mile (200-km) ranges. It would enhance Syria’s
current Russian-supplied defences, which did not deter Israel
from launching air strikes around Damascus last weekend.
“We have raised objections to this (sale) with the Russians,
and the Americans have too,” an Israeli official told Reuters.
Kerry said in Rome that Washington would prefer Russia not
to sell weapons to Syria.
CHEMICAL TRACES
Western states have been reluctant to consider military
action against Assad, but U.S. President Barack Obama has said
the use of chemical weapons would cross a “red line” and trigger
a strong response.
Evidence of such use is so far fragmentary and disputed.
Asked about reports that rebel forces had used the banned
nerve agent sarin, a spokesman for British Prime Minister David
Cameron said: “Our assessment is that chemical weapons use in
Syria is very likely to have been initiated by the regime. We
have no evidence to date of opposition use.”
Turkey has sent a team of eight experts to the border with
Syria to test wounded victims of the country’s civil war for
traces of chemical and biological weapons, the state-run
Anatolian news agency said.
Turkey started testing blood samples last week from Syrian
casualties brought over the border for treatment to determine
whether they were victims of a chemical weapons attack.
The civil defence team, equipped with a specialist vehicle
which can detect evidence of chemical, biological and nuclear
substances, has been stationed at the Cilvegozu border gate near
the town of Reyhanli, Anatolian said.
Turkey’s Star newspaper, which is close to the government,
reported on Thursday that the forensic institute that has been
testing the blood samples had found traces of ricin, a highly
toxic substance which can be used as a chemical warfare agent.
Turkish officials have declined to confirm whether the tests
have been completed or to comment on any results.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said meanwhile the
United Nations should declare Syria’s Islamist militant al-Nusra
Front a terrorist organisation, to differentiate it from other
Syrian rebel groups.
France wants to bolster the opposition Syrian National
Coalition, while pushing it to expand, unify and guarantee that
a new government in Damascus would respect the rights of all
communities, Fabius said in an interview with Le Monde daily.
(Additional reporting by William James in London, Dan Williams
in Jerusalem, Arshad Mohammed in Rome, Ayman Samir in Cairo,
Catherine Bremer in Paris and Ece Toksabay in Istanbul; Editing
by Jon Hemming)
