US aware of Assad asylum offers

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration said Wednesday that several countries in the Middle East and elsewhere have informally offered to grant asylum to Syrian President Bashar Assad and his family if they leave Syria.

Administration officials also said they were continuing to encourage those close to Assad to defect and said they believed that Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi, who disappeared this week, is currently in London.

The State Department said it couldn’t vouch for the sincerity of the Assad asylum offers and noted that they raise serious questions of accountability for abuses committed by his government. But spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. is convinced that Assad must leave and cannot play any role in Syria’s future.

“We do understand that some countries both in the region and elsewhere have offered to host Assad and his family should they choose to leave Syria,” Toner told reporters. He would not name the countries.

“We, at this point, don’t have any formal understanding or knowledge of concrete offers (but) we are aware that some offers have been made informally,” he told reporters. His comments came in response to a question about reports that some Latin American countries may be prepared to grant Assad asylum.

Wherever Assad may end up, Toner said the U.S. would insist on his being held accountable for “the horrible abuses he has committed against his own people.”

“No one is getting a free pass here,” he said. “We want to see Assad gone yesterday. We want to see a peaceful political transition take place (and) Assad has no credibility in that process. He has to go, but there are issues of accountability that have to be addressed.”

Toner added that the United States understood from a number of sources that Makdissi was in London. If Makdissi defected, Toner said it would be another sign the Assad government is “crumbling” and that members of Assad’s inner circle are realizing that the end is near.

A British official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was unlikely that Makdissi was in London.

Makdissi is a longtime spokesman for Syria’s foreign ministry who speaks fluent English. Before the uprising he was one of the most available officials to visiting foreign journalists.

During the uprising, Makdissi has given a number of lengthy news conferences defending the Assad government and repeating its view that Assad is a reformer and that the rebels are foreign-backed terrorists.

In July, Makdissi told reporters that chemical and biological weapons would never be used against Syrians, but only in case of a foreign attack. “All of these types of weapons are in storage and under security and the direct supervision of the Syrian armed forces and will never be used unless Syria is exposed to external aggression,” he said.

It appeared to be the first time Syria had acknowledged possessing such weapons. Soon after, however, the government tried to blur the issue, saying it had not said it had such weapons.

Lebanese security officials said Makdissi flew from Beirut to London on Monday, but it is not clear whether Makdissi defected, quit his post or was forced out.

Neither the Syrian nor the British government has commented publicly on the matter

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Associated Press writers Ben Hubbard in Beirut and Paisley Dodds in London contributed to this report.