NATO foreign ministers meet amid concerns over Syrian chemical arms

2012-12-04 1

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)

STORY: NATO allies arrive in Brussels where they will agree on Tuesday to deploy Patriot missiles in NATO-member Turkey.

The United States, Germany and the Netherlands will supply the equipment, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at the start of a two-day meeting of NATO foreign affairs ministers in Brussels.

NATO also told Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that any use of chemical weapons in his fight against encroaching rebel forces would be met by an immediate international response.

The warning came as Syrian forces bombarded rebel districts near Damascus in a sustained counter-attack to stem rebel gains around Assad's power base.