“The Syrian army is fully ready, its finger on the trigger to face any challenge or scenario that they want to carry out,” al-Halqi said in a written statement carried out by Syrian television on Saturday.

The remarks came as the United States mulls military action against Syria over accusations that Damascus was behind last week’s chemical weapons attack.

US President Barack Obama on Friday gave his clearest indication that a military action against Syria was imminent, saying his administration was considering a possible “limited” military intervention after intelligence reports that more than 1,400 people were killed in the attack.

On August 21, the foreign-backed militants operating inside Syria and the foreign-backed Syrian opposition claimed that the government forces had used chemical weapons in an attack against militant strongholds in the Damascus suburbs of Ain Tarma, Zamalka and Jobar, killing hundreds of people.

The Syrian government categorically rejected the claim, saying that the US claim is “full of lies” and that the foreign-backed militants carried out the attack.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier in the day that accusing the Syrian government of using chemical weapons against the foreign-backed militants in the country is “utter nonsense.”

Putin also called on Washington to show proof that Damascus was behind the attack, adding failure to do so means that “there is none.”

The UN team of chemical weapons inspectors left Syria early on Saturday and arrived in the Netherlands to take the evidence they had gathered during their four-day visit to the site to the Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons in The Hague.

The samples reportedly include oil, swabs from munitions, as well as blood and hair from the victims.
Source: PressTV
SAB/SS