Rasmussen: "NATO continues to assist Turkey"

In a statement on the North Atlantic Council meeting on Syria on August 28, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said, "We will continue to consult and keep the situation in Syria under close review, and NATO continues to assist Turkey and protect the Alliance's south-eastern border." Rasmussen noted that NATO discussed the situation in Syria and in particular ‘the horrific use of chemical weapons' around Damascus on August 21. Expressing the full support of NATO member states to the ongoing UN investigation in Syria, Rasmussen said, "Our allies deplored that the Syrian regime failed to provide immediate and secure access for the United Nations inspectors to the sites of the attacks." Drawing attention to the fact that Damascus holds chemical weapons, Rasmussen stressed that information available from a wide variety of sources pointed to the Syrian regime as responsible for the use of chemical weapons in the attacks. Rasmussen indicated that the use of chemical weapons was a clear breach of long-standing international norms and practice and that any use of such weapons was unacceptable and could not go unanswered. "Those responsible must be held accountable," Rasmussen said.