US President Barack Obama has issued the toughest warning to his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad, saying the use of chemical or biological weapons by Damascus would be a "red line" that would change his calculus significantly and provoke a foreign military intervention.
"We cannot have a situation where chemical or biologicalweapons are falling into the hands of the wrong people," Obama toldreporters at the White House yesterday.
"We have been very clear to the Assad regime -- butalso to other players on the ground -- that a red line for us is we startseeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilised,"Obama said, outlining for the first time the point at which his administrationcould feel forced to intervene militarily in the Arab country's ragingconflict.
Obama, who has not ordered any armed US intervention yet,said: "We have communicated in no uncertain terms with every player in theregion, that that's a red line for us, and that there would be enormousconsequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front, or theuse of chemical weapons. That would change my calculations significantly."
