Syrian Military Preparing To Use Chemical Weapons

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Syria Loads Chemical Weapons Into Bombs; Military Awaits Assad's Order -- NBC 

The Syrian military is prepared to use chemical weapons against its own people and is awaiting final orders from President Bashar Assad, U.S. officials told NBC News on Wednesday. The military has loaded the precursor chemicals for sarin, a deadly nerve gas, into aerial bombs that could be dropped onto the Syrian people from dozens of fighter-bombers, the officials said. As recently as Tuesday, officials had said there was as yet no evidence that the process of mixing the "precursor" chemicals had begun. But Wednesday, they said their worst fears had been confirmed: The nerve agents were locked and loaded inside the bombs. Sarin is an extraordinarily lethal agent. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's forces killed 5,000 Kurds with a single sarin attack on Halabja in 1988.  

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More News On The Syrian Military Preparing To Use Chemical Weapons  

NBC report: Syrian leader prepares to use chemical weapons -- MSNBC
U.S., Israel monitoring Syria's cache of chemical weapons -- L.A. Times
Reports: Syria has put nerve gas in bombs -- USA Today
Syria mixes chemical weapons for potential use in bombs, US source says -- FOX News
International Concern Mounts Over Syria's Chemical Weapons -- Voice of America
Syrian army prepared to use chemical weapons -- Jerusalem Post/Reuters
Bracing for a chemical weapon attack -- CNN