France agrees - WMD use unacceptable - Assad Will fall says the French - will get not protection from Arabs

PARIS (Reuters) - Any use of chemical weapons by Syrian government forces would be unacceptable, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Tuesday.

Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi, acknowledging for the first time that his country had chemical and biological weapons, said on Monday the Syrian army would not use chemical weapons to crush rebels but could use them against forces from outside the country.

"Any use of chemical arms is completely unacceptable. President Obama made statements to this effect and so have others... These weapons are under strict surveillance by the international community, " Fabius told France 2 television.

Fabius also said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was bound to fall at some point and the Arab League offer of a safe exit would not save him from punishment.

Arab foreign ministers on Sunday offered Assad a "safe exit" if he stepped down - an offer followed by a fierce counter-offensive by Syrian government forces, reflecting Assad's determination to keep power against the 16-month-old rebellion against his rule.

"The Arab League has made this offer but I think that, in the long term, all dictators must pay for their crimes," Fabius told France 2. "In the end, for him and other dictators, there will be no impunity... Assad will fall, it is only a matter of time."

"The fall of Bashar al-Assad must not bring about a persecution of minorities," Fabius added.

Several Western states expressed alarm at Syria's acknowledgment that it had chemical and biological weapons and would use them against any foreign intervention, though not against Syrian rebels.

The Syrian announcement followed a week of unprecedented fighting in the capital, Damascus, and a bomb attack that killed four of Assad's closest advisers including his brother-in-law.

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