Terrorism: Concerns over Syria's chemical weapons

SECURITY agencies in countries facing extremist Islamic insurgents are said to be worried about developments in Syria, especially on the custody of chemical and biological weapons by the country.Security sources, on Thursday, said it would be disastrous if Syria's lethal chemical weapons are mishandled like the weapons from the arsenal of Muamma Ghadaffi, which got into the hands of Muslim extremists in Mali and those of the Boko Haram sect in Nigeria.The sources added that security agencies in vulnerable countries were weighing options on how to contain the problem that could ensue from a further escalation of the Syrian crisis. The Associated Press also reported on Wednesday that Syria had threatened to unleash chemical and biological weapons if the country faced a foreign attack.Syria is believed to have nerve agents, as well as mustard gas.The AP reported further that Israelis rushed to get government-issue gas masks, betraying fears that Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles could be used against them as the crisis deepened.Until a few days ago, the possibility of getting dragged into Syria's civil war was not a major issue in Israel, whose leaders have had a focus on the potential threat posed by Iran's suspected nuclear programme. Israeli officials are now more worried about the possibility that the weapons could fall into the hands of Islamic militants from Lebanon's Hezbollah or other groups should the regime of the Syrian president, Bashar Assad, fall.'For us, that's a casus belli, or red line,' Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said on Wednesday.
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