Syria’s army is ready for potential foreign strikes against it and has its “finger on the trigger,” Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi said in comments carried Saturday on state television, Agence France-Presse reported.
“The Syrian army is fully ready, its finger on the trigger to face any challenge or scenario that they want to carry out,” AFP quoted him as saying in a written statement aired on television.
Only hours after U.N. inspectors left the country after investigating the aftermath of suspected chemical weapons attacks said to be perpetrated by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, a security official said on Saturday that Syria Syria is expecting a military strike “at any moment.”
“We are expecting an attack at any moment. We are ready to retaliate at any moment,” an unnamed Syrian security official told AFP news agency.
The departure of the U.N. inspectors has given the United States an opportunity to carry out a military strike, after President Barack Obama on Friday indicated that military intervention was pending.
The U.S. president said that his administration was looking at the possibility of a “limited, narrow act,” while emphasizing that no final decision had yet been made on possible military strikes against the Syrian regime.
The U.N. inspectors are due to report back to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and present their conclusion on whether or not a poison gas attack took place on August 21.
The Syrian regime has denied responsibility for the alleged attacks which the U.S. government says caused the deaths of some 1,400 people.
(With AFP)
Also Read
-
Contradictions and irony stalk Obama in Syria war
To hear him tell it, no one is more tired of war than Barack Obama -- yet the U.S. president is warning that combat fatigue must not get in the way of ... Analysis -
Countdown to military strike on Syria
Saturday, August 31, 2013: [Time in GMT] 8-9 a.m. Syria expects an attack "at any moment" and is ready to respond, a security source ... Middle East -
Iranian delegation heads to Syria and Lebanon
A delegation of Iranian MPs left on Saturday for Syria and Lebanon to examine the situation there and “condemn the use of chemical weapons by ... Middle East -
Will the U.S. strike Syria without major ally Britain?
Analysts are divided over whether the United States will press ahead with a punitive strike against the Syrian government for purportedly using ... Analysis -
British Parliament tells Cameron to cool it on Syria
Gung-ho Prime Minister Cameron and his saber-rattling lieutenant, William Hague, were so eager to crank up their war machine that they’d lost ... Middle East -
Syria says U.S. evidence of chemical attack ‘entirely fabricated’
A U.S. intelligence report which found the Syrian regime used chemical weapons in an attack which killed nearly 1,500 people was ... Middle East -
Why does Turkey support intervention in Syria?
In recent days the world has seen rulers overthrown, governments elected, embattled and deposed by the tumult of the Arab peoples. Turkey meanwhile, ... Middle East
