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NATO today held the Assad regime responsible for the use of chemical weapons that reportedly caused hundreds of deaths in Syria earlier this month, saying that such an act "cannot go unanswered".
"The Syrian regime maintains custody of stockpiles of chemical weapons. Information available from a wide variety of sources points to the Syrian regime as responsible for the use of chemical weapons in these attacks," NATO Secretary General Fogh Rasmussen said, after a meeting of the 28-member military alliance in Brussels.
"This is a clear breach of long-standing international norms and practice. Any use of such weapons is unacceptable and cannot go unanswered. Those responsible must be held accountable," he said, adding that the NATO considers the use of chemical weapons as a threat to international peace and security.
Following the meeting, NATO Secretary General condemned in the strongest possible terms "these outrageous attacks" which caused major loss of life.
"NATO Allies expressed their full support to the ongoing UN investigation. They deplored that the Syrian regime failed to provide immediate and secure access for the United Nations inspectors to the sites of the attacks," he said.
The Syrian government has blamed opposition fighters for the alleged chemical attack near Damascus on August 21, in which hundreds of people were reportedly killed.
