BRUSSELS, August 28. (Itar-Tass) - North Atlantic Treaty Organization voiced increasingly harsher statements regarding the Syrian situation; however, no decision on using force against Damascus has been made yet. A source from Brussels told Itar-Tass that during a session held on Wednesday, August 28, no concrete decisions regarding measures against Syria have been made by allied state’s envoys.

“It was an eventful exchange of opinion. All participants of the meeting have decisively ruled that use of chemical weapons in Syria should be treated as violation of international norms and practices,” the source emphasized.  

Despite absence of particular decisions, it should be noted that NATO is choosing a harsher tone when speaking about Syria. Until Wednesday, NATO’s attitude towards Damascus could be summed up by the following phrase: “NATO denounces ongoing violence in Syria, especially use of chemical weapons, however, it doesn’t see itself playing a role in resolution of the issue.”

However, after Wednesday’s session, Secretary General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen has made public his statement, in which he, in essence, placed the blame for chemical weapon use on Damascus, - something that NATO has not done before. He said that information available from a variety of sources indicates that it is the Syrian regime who is responsible for the attack, emphasizing that using chemical weapons August 21 in Damascus suburbs is a direct violation of international norms and those responsible for it should be held accountable.

Rasmussen has expressed support of the UN investigation and regretted that Syrian authorities could not provide UN inspectors complete and safe access to locations of chemical attacks.

He added a seemingly innocent statement, already voiced by NATO, calling using chemical weapons a threat to international peace and security. Given the context of the whole message it’s clear this basically was a direct threat to Syria.

Finally, NATO promised to continue consultations and carefully monitor development of the Syrian situation.