UK 'Prepared' if Syria Uses Chemical Arms

Britain and its allies are "well prepared" to deal with the situation if Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime decides to use chemical weapons, a British minister said Thursday in Amman.

"We are extremely conscious of the threat of chemical weapons in Syria. The United Kingdom with partners are looking very carefully at how any particular incident might be dealt with," Foreign Office Minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt told a news conference.

"But we continue to make the point to the Syrian regime this is a line which must not be crossed. The consequences are far too grave. The UK is well prepared with its partners to meet the challenges, but I would not go into details."

The United States has warned any use or transfer of chemical weapons would cross a "red line" and could trigger military action.

On Tuesday, Israel said Syrian forces had already resorted to using chemical weapons in their battle against anti-regime fighters.

"To the best of our professional understanding, the (Assad) regime has made use of deadly chemical weapons against the rebels in a number of incidents in the last few months," Brigadier General Itai Brun, head of the research and analysis division of Israeli military intelligence, told a security conference in Tel Aviv.

But U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in Cairo on Wednesday that U.S. intelligence agencies were still evaluating information and were not yet convinced.

"The Syrian situation is catastrophic and is getting beyond levels of inhumanity," Burt said.

"The UK strongly believes that only a political transition will do the job."

He said British aid to help Syrian refugees in the region has totaled £141 million (166 million euros, $217 million).

The United Nations says that some 1.3 million people have so far fled Syria to neighboring countries since the beginning of the conflict.

Jordan says it is already hosting nearly 500,000 Syrian refugees, and the U.N. expects as many as 1.2 million Syrians to have sought refuge in the country by the end of this year.