Syrian rebels hunt for snipers after attacking the municipality building in the city center of Selehattin, near Aleppo, on Monday, during fights between rebels and Syrian troops. Syrian rebels claimed they have "liberated" several districts of the northern city of Aleppo, said a Free Syrian Army spokesman in the country's commercial hub. Bulent Kilic / Agence France-Presse

The Syrian government has moved chemical weapons to airports on its borders, the rebel Free Syrian Army said on Tuesday, a day after the government warned it could use them if attacked by an outside force.

"We in the joint command of the Free Syrian Army inside the country know very well the locations and positions of these weapons," a statement from the FSA said.

"We also have revealed that (President Bashar al-)Assad has transferred some of these weapons and equipment for mixing chemical components to airports on the border."

The statement said the weapons had been moved in a bid to pressure the international community amid the 16-month uprising against his rule.

"According to our information, the regime began moving its stocks of weapons of mass destruction several months ago ... with the goal of putting pressure on the region and the international community," the FSA said.

But the group said it was impossible to believe that Assad's government would use its weapons against neighboring Israel, which has publicly expressed concerns about the fate of Syria's massive chemical weapons stocks.

"The regime that has not fired a single bullet against Israel during the course of three decades is certainly not going to use chemical weapons against that country," the statement said.

The Syrian government made a public reference to its chemical weapons stocks for the first time on Monday, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi warning they could be used if outside forces attacked.

"Syria will not use any chemical or other unconventional weapons against its civilians, and will only use them in case of external aggression," Makdissi told reporters.

"Any stocks of chemical weapons that may exist will never, ever be used against the Syrian people," he said, adding that in the event of foreign attack, "the generals will be deciding when and how we use them".

Syrian authorities have arrested a person said to have carried out a bomb attack last week that killed three senior security officials, an Iranian news agency reported on Tuesday.

The suspect worked at the security headquarters in Damascus where the bombing took place, Fars News Agency quoted Syrian parliament member Mohammad Zahir Ghanoum as saying.

The attack killed the defense minister, a general and the brother-in-law of Assad, the most significant strike against the country's leadership.

"The agent who committed the explosion against the Syria Supreme National Security Council building was arrested," Ghanoum said.

"The arrested individual is a staff member of that same building but I cannot give further details. Probably in the near future this person's confession will be broadcast."

A security source told Reuters last week the bomber was a bodyguard entrusted with protecting the closest members of Assad's circle. Syrian state television said a suicide bomber was responsible.

Iraq on alert

Iraqi military authorities moved an army brigade from southern Iraq to border areas with Syria in Iraq's western province of Anbar, an official television reported on Tuesday.

"An Iraqi army brigade has been ordered to move from its base in Dhi-Qar province to Iraqi-Syrian border to enhance security measures," the state-run channel of Iraqia quoted a source in Dhi-Qar province as saying.

The brigade, which will arrive successively in western Iraq, is tasked with scrutinizing the identities of all Iraqis who return from Syria to detain those who are wanted according to arrest warrants issued earlier by the Iraqi judiciary, the source said.

Last week, the Iraqi government urged its citizens living in Syria to return home after an increase in deadly attacks against Iraqis.

AFP-Reuters-Xinhua

(China Daily 07/25/2012 page23)