US and Turkey meet to discuss Syrian chemical weapons

Washington moves to reassure Nato ally, with reports emerging of Pentagon plan to guard or destroy Syria's stockpiles
Syria-Turkey border
A Kurdish man guards a checkpoint on the road to the north-western Syrian city of Afrin, on the Syria-Turkey border. Photograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images

US military and intelligence officials met their Turkish counterparts in Ankara on Thursday to discuss ways to counter the threat of Syrian chemical weapons, as the impact of the civil war continued to spread across Syria's borders.

The Ankara meeting came as David Cameron supported Barack Obama's threat of possible military intervention in Syria if the regime used chemical weapons. Reports from the US suggest the Pentagon has plans to dispatch special forces teams to secure or destroy chemical weapon stockpiles if there is a danger they might fall into the hands of extremist groups.

But Russia's deputy foreign minister, Gennady Gatilov, said Russia had "guarantees" from the Syrian government that its arsenal of chemical weapons would not be used or moved.

Last night the French defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, urged the international community to consider backing a no-fly zone over parts of Syria.

Bashar al-Assad's regime acknowledged its long-suspected possession of a stock of chemical weapons last month when a spokesman, Jihad Makdissi, said such weapons would not be used inside Syria but might be if the country was "exposed to external aggression".

The American delegation to the Ankara meeting was led by Elizabeth Jones, a high-ranking diplomat most recently involved in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Turkish government did not name its representatives at the meeting but they included senior security officials. Diplomats said the joint military and intelligence planning session was intended to reassure Turkey that the US would help prevent the conflict spilling across the border and destabilising its Nato ally.

The US has hitherto turned down Turkish appeals to help set up a safe haven inside Syria for regime opponents or to establish humanitarian corridors to besieged population centres, but in agreeing to hold the meeting 12 days ago, the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, did not rule out such options if the violence continued to escalate.

"Our intelligence services and our military have very important responsibilities and roles to play," Clinton said. "In the horrible event that chemical weapons were used, we discussed what that would mean in terms of response and of humanitarian and medical emergency assistance and what would need to be done to secure those stocks and prevent them being used or falling into the wrong hands."

President Obama has said Syria's use or movement of chemical weapons would represent a "red line" for the US, possibly leading Washington to intervene militarily. In a telephone conversation on Wednesday night, according a Downing Street spokesperson, Cameron and Obama "agreed that the use – or threat – of chemical weapons was completely unacceptable and would force them to revisit their approach so far".

The Los Angeles Times reported that the Pentagon had contingency plans to protect or destroy chemical weapons stockpiles if they were left unguarded or in danger of falling into the hands of the armed opposition, or extremist groups linked to al-Qaida or Hezbollah.

The paper, quoting unnamed officials, said "securing the sites would probably involve stealthy raids by special operations teams trained to handle such weapons, and precision air strikes to incinerate the chemicals without dispersing them in the air".

It added: "US satellites and drone aircraft already maintain partial surveillance of the sites."

An assessment by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London said Syria had manufactured mustard gas, a blistering agent, and a nerve gas, sarin. The report said Damascus was also alleged to have developed a more powerful and lingering nerve agent known as VX.

"I don't think Assad will use them," Dina Esfandiary, an IISS security analyst, said. "He is well aware it would be the end of his rule. What drives urgency, and what frightens bordering states, is the risk they will fall into the hands of non-state actors who would not be as deterable as Assad."

Russia's deputy foreign minister, Gennady Gatilov, told the Associated Press on Thursday: "We have guarantees from the Syrian government that it will not take any steps involving chemical weapons. And I want to reiterate that on this issue we will restrain it in all ways possible and work toward the goal of preventing such things from happening."

He said the Foreign Ministry was in constant contact with U.S. officials, pointing to last week's visit by Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.

Inside Syria, government forces moved into Daraya, a mostly anti-regime town on the south-western edge of Damascus. The army bombarded the area with artillery and helicopter gunships for 24 hours before sending in troops, according to opposition sources.

Fighting also continued for a fourth day in the Lebanese port city of Tripoli after the collapse of a ceasefire between Sunni and Shia militias, a further sign the 17-month civil conflict is becoming harder to contain. The fighting was sparked by tit-for-tat abductions that began inside Syria, where the ruling Alawite minority has strong historical ties with Lebanese Shia groups.