Obama responds to Assad’s threat of using chemical weapons

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad stands as he arrives for a speech to Syria's parliament in Damascus

In response to the Syrian government’s threat of using chemical weapons against any external aggression, U.S. president Barack Obama warned Bashar al-Assad’s regime on Monday that he would hold it answerable if it makes the terrible mistake of deciding to use its stock of chemical weapons.
"Given the regime's stockpile of chemical weapons, we will continue to make it clear to Assad and those around him that the world is watching," Mr. Obama told an audience of US veterans in the western state of Nevada, according to The Telegraph. "They will be held accountable by the international community and the United States should they make the tragic mistake of using those weapons.”
Assad’s Syrian government recently shocked the world by warning to use its stockpile of chemical weapons in case of external intervention in its civil war. Syria’s foreign ministry spokesperson Jihad Makdissi said that his country’s chemical weapons arsenal was under the Syrian military’s command and would never be employed unless Syria faces outside attack.
Makdisi's statement was the first-ever official acceptance that Damascus has chemical weapons. Besides, the foreign ministry spokesperson asserted that the security condition in Syria was going back to normal.
“These weapons are made to be used strictly and only in the event of external aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic,” Makdisi said, according to the NY Times.
Syria is in the clutches of more than a-year-long clashes prompted by Assad's atrocious suppression of a pro-democracy uprising. Meanwhile, several Western and Arab powers have called for him to resign and let an orderly shift of power take place.
For several years, the Syrian government has been keeping international powers in the dark about its huge reserve of unconventional arms. After confirmation of the reality on Monday, the Syrian government promptly recoiled to its common position, saying its comments were misapprehended.
Syria’s threat of using chemical weapons also drew a tough reply from the United Nations chief, who said it was reprehensible for Syrian leaders to even think of using chemical weapons.
Syria is alleged of possessing large stockpile of hazardous and very toxic chemicals such as mustard, a blister agent, and Sarin and VX, nerve agents.