DUBAI — The rebel Free Syrian Army head has echoed fears that President Bashar Al-Assad might resort to using chemical weapons to try to rescue his embattled regime, Al-Bayan newspaper reported Wednesday.



“We are seeking to secure protective gas masks for civilians and (defected) soldiers ... after the regime moved some out of storage,” Col. Riad Al-Assad told the Dubai daily.



Meanwhile, A number of Palestinian refugees living in Damascus have joined the uprising in Syria, according to activists and rebels, with some taking up arms alongside rebel Free Syrian Army fighters.



The majority of at least 500,000 Palestinians in Syria have been living in the country since the 1948 creation of Israel, and the Syrian regime has systematically striven to control their political activity.



Most of the refugees joining the anti-regime revolt are not affiliated to traditional Palestinian factions or movements, according to activists.



“Many of us – especially the youth – are in sympathy with the revolution, and now that the fighting is in Damascus, we cannot stay put,” a Palestinian from Yarmuk refugee camp, on the outskirts of the capital, said.



“Many Palestinian youth have joined the FSA, and they are fighting side by side with the Syrian revolutionaries in the Tadamon and Al-Hajar Al-Aswad districts,” said the activist, who identified himself as Abu Al-Sakan.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that intelligence reports suggested some chemical weapons were on the move, but the reasons for the transfers were unclear.



It said some US officials feared the weapons could be used against rebels or civilians, while others believed the material was being deliberately hidden from armed opposition groups or Western powers.



Assad alleged that the regime has already used poison gas in rebel strongholds. “We have information regime forces have already used poison gas in some areas such as Rastan,” in Homs province, and Daraa, cradle of the uprising, “as people there suffered burns when hit by these weapons,” he said.



“Right from the beginning of the revolt, we were sure the regime will use all the power and arsenal it has” to crush the uprising which started in March 2011 and has cost more than 17,000 people dead, according to rights groups. — AFP