04/12/2012 10:11
Obama warns Bashar al-Assad as Syria 'readies chemical weapons'
On a day of turmoil in which a high-ranking regime spokesman defected and the United Nations began withdrawing all non-essential personnel, Mr Obama vowed the world would not stand by if chemical weapons were used as part of Syria's 21-month-old civil war.
"Today, I want to make it absolutely clear to Assad and those under his command, the world is watching. The use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable," Mr Obama said during a speech on nuclear proliferation in Washington.
"If you make the tragic mistake of using these weapons there will be consequences and you will be held accountable. We simply cannot allow the 21st century to be darkened by the worst weapons of the 20th century."
The President's warning came as US officials claimed to have detected signs that Syrian forces were mixing the chemicals needed to produce sarin gas, a nerve agent banned under international rules of war.
"We've picked up several indications which lead us to believe that they're combining chemical precursors," one official told AFP.