BRUSSELS — A team of U.S. military planners is in Jordan to help the government grapple with Syrian refugees, bolster its military capabilities, and prepare for any trouble with its chemical weapons stockpiles, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Wednesday.
"We have been working with Jordan for a period of time now . . . on a number of the issues that have developed as a result of what's happened in Syria," Panetta told a news conference in Brussels.
Panetta said those issues included monitoring chemical weapons sites "to determine how best to respond to any concerns in that area."
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A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the small team of planners were not engaged in covert operations and have been housed at the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center, north of the capital of Amman, since the early summer.
While the United States has not intervened militarily in Syria, President Barack Obama has warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that any attempt to deploy or use chemical or biological weapons would cross a "red line" that could provoke U.S. action.
Late last month, Panetta said Syria had moved some of its chemical weapons stocks to better secure them, but stressed that the country's main chemical weapons sites remain intact and secure under government control.
The U.S. military planners in Jordan, however, were not solely focused on chemical weapons.
"We've also been working with them to develop their own military operational capabilities in the event of any contingency there," Panetta said. "And that's the reason we have . . . a group of our forces there."
About 294,000 refugees fleeing 18 months of conflict in Syria have already crossed into Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Turkey, or await registration there, the U.N. refugee agency estimated late last month.
Up to 700,000 Syrian refugees may flee abroad by the end of the year, it estimated.
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