Syrian Official Warns: U.S. Attack Would Spark 'Ball Of Fire' In 'Whole Middle East'

It looks like Syria is just about to ignite: 

U.S. Attack Would Spark 'Ball Of Fire' In The 'Whole Middle East'

The Syrian government warned the United States not to launch any military action against Damascus over an alleged chemical attack, saying such a move would set the Middle East ablaze.

“The basic repercussion would be a ball of fire that would burn not only Syria but the whole Middle East,” said Syria’s Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi in an interview with Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV, dismissing the likelihood of American military intervention. “An attack on Syria would be no easy trip.”

The Syrian government also accused rebels of using chemical weapons Saturday. The accusations by the regime of President Bashar Assad against opposition forces came as an international aid group said it has tallied 355 deaths from a purported chemical weapons attack on Wednesday in a suburb of the Syrian capital known as Ghouta.

Syria is intertwined in alliances with Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas and Palestinian militant groups. The country also borders its longtime foe and U.S. ally Israel, making the fallout from military action unpredictable.

Violence in Syria has already spilled over the past year to Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Battle-hardened Hezbollah fighters have joined the combat alongside Assad’s forces.

Israel Said Expecting U.S. Military Response In Syria

Israel believes that the United States will respond militarily to Syria’s alleged use of chemical weapons, according to unnamed military sources quoted by the Hebrew website Ynet on Saturday night.

When proof surfaces that the Assad regime used chemical weapons last Wednesday, “the US will act even in the event that the UN Security Council does not take a decision to that effect,” the report claimed, citing estimations by Israeli officials.

It said the Syria crisis was discussed by the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, in a phone conversation with his Israeli counterpart, Chief of the IDF General Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, on Friday.

The assessment in Jerusalem is that “Washington is seriously considering a limited yet effective attack that will make it clear to the regime in Damascus that the international community will not tolerate the use of weapons of mass destruction against Syrian civilians or any other elements,” the report said.

Israel’s Channel 2 news said the likelihood was of a limited “punitive attack,” to deter the regime from further chemical weapons use.

Israel is said to be preparing for the possibility that, in response to an American attack, Syria might retaliate against targets in Israel. Syria is reported to have an arsenal of at least 100,000 missiles, some of which can target any areas in Israel.

Syria: Closer To Intervention

David Cameron and Barack Obama moved the west closer to military intervention in Syria on Saturday as they agreed that last week's alleged chemical weapon attacks by the Assad regime had taken the crisis into a new phase that merited a "serious response".

In a phone call that lasted 40 minutes, the two leaders are understood to have concluded that the regime of Bashar al-Assad was almost certainly responsible for the assault that is believed to have killed as many as 1,400 people in Damascus in the middle of last week. Cameron was speaking from his holiday in Cornwall.

The prime minister and US president said time was running out for Assad to allow UN weapons inspectors into the areas where the attack took place. Government sources said the two leaders agreed that all options should be kept open, both to end the suffering of the Syrian people and to make clear that the west could not stand by as chemical weapons were used on innocent civilians.

A spokesman for No 10 said: "The prime minister and President Obama are both gravely concerned by the attack that took place in Damascus on Wednesday and the increasing signs that this was a significant chemical weapons attack carried out by the Syrian regime against its own people. The UN security council has called for immediate access for UN investigators on the ground in Damascus. The fact that President Assad has failed to co-operate with the UN suggests that the regime has something to hide.