JERUSALEM/DAMASCUS: Syria has the "biggest chemical weapons arsenal in the world," which it could use to threaten the Jewish state, Israel's deputy chief of the general staff has warned.
“Syria has built up the biggest chemical weapons arsenal in the world and has missiles and rockets capable of reaching any part of Israeli territory," Maj. Gen. Yair Naveh said in remarks delivered Sunday night and carried on Israeli military radio yesterday.
Naveh pointed to the deadly crackdown on anti-government protesters being waged by President Bashar Assad and his forces, saying it was proof that Syria would show no restraint in any attack on Israel.
"The Syrians who treat their people that way will do the same to us if they have the opportunity," he said.
Israel has been raising the alarm for months over Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles, with the head of the army's northern command warning they could end up in the hands of Hezbollah, Lebanon's Shiite militia group.
Israeli military analysts say Syria has spent the past 40 years producing sarin and nerve gas, as well as mustard gas, which can be used in missiles.
Meanwhile, helicopter gunships yesterday fired on rebel positions in central and northwestern Syria in a bid to snuff out the gunmen as violence killed 52 people across the country, a monitoring group said.
Helicopters strafed rebels positions in Al-Heffa, in the northwestern province of Latakia, and in Rastan, in the central province of Homs, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Regime troops have pounded Al-Heffa daily for the past week to snuff out rebel Free Syrian Army fighters deployed in the rugged countryside near the Turkish border, activists said. Activists said yesterday's assault was violent and described the situation in Al-Heffa as “terrible,” although there were no immediate reports of casualties.
“Army tanks are deployed at the entrances of the town. They have never come this close before,” local activist Sema Nassar told.
“There's only one doctor working to treat the wounded in the town,” of 30,000 people, said Nassar, adding that most of the residents have fled.
"Some civilians have stayed behind to help the rebel fighters defend the town," she added.
Nassar also pointed to report carried by the official SANA news agency and Syrian TV claiming that "terrorists" were planning "to carry out a massacre" in Al-Heffa and nearby Tfil. "This is cause for great concern. It seems there are plans to kill many people," said Nassar.
Government troops also used helicopters to attack rebel positions in the Homs province town of Rastan which has been under intermittent army shelling "for months," the Britain-based Observatory said. Four civilians, including a young girl, were killed in the violence, it added.
In restive Qusayr, also in Homs province, another two civilians were killed, the Observatory said.
Activists in the central province of Hama told AFP that regime troops continued to target towns and villages in the region, where anti-regime sentiment was strong.
"We are worried about how much violence there might be there right now, because we have heard that regime forces are using residents as human shields," an activist who identified himself as Abu Ghazi Al-Hamwi told AFP. At least five people were killed in Hama yesterday.
Elsewhere, at least nine people were killed in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, where rebels and regime forces clashed, while a blast in the northwestern city of Idlib killed a civilian and seven regime forces.
Also in Idlib, 11 others were killed.
And after days of violent clashes in the capital, a booby-trapped car exploded in the central district of Barzeh killing one person, while gunmen shot dead a Baath party official in the city suburbs.
Separately, Syrian rebel army chief, Col. Riyadh Al-Asaad, denied yesterday that Kuwaitis were fighting alongside his men against forces of the Assad's regime. "Reports indicating the presence of Arab fighters (in Syria) are totally baseless," Col. Asaad was quoted as saying by Kuwait's Al-Watan newspaper.
