US believes Syria used chemical weapons
But it added that president Barack Obama needed “credible and corroborated” facts before acting on that assessment.
The disclosure, made by the White House in a letter to Congress and by US defence secretary Chuck Hagel to reporters, moves the US closer to declaring Syria has crossed Obama’s “red line” on some kind of deeper involvement in the country’s civil war.
The White House has not specified what action Obama might take if he determines with certainty that Syria has crossed that red line. But in its letter to lawmakers, it warned it was ready to respond.
“The administration is prepared for all contingencies so that we can respond appropriately to any confirmed use of chemical weapons, consistent with our national interest,” Miguel Rodriguez, White House director of the office of legislative affairs, said in a letter to lawmakers.
The White House said the assessment Syria’s regime had used chemical weapons — specifically the chemical agent sarin — was based in part on physiological samples.
“The intelligence community has been assessing information for some time on this issue and the decision to reach this conclusion was made in the past 24 hours,” Hagel told reporters in Abu Dhabi.
The White House said “facts that provide us with some degree of certainty will guide our decision making”.
Hagel said while the US could not confirm the origin of the weapons, it believes any use would very likely have originated with the regime of president Bashar al-Assad.
On Mar 20, during a historic visit to Israel, Obama said the use of such weapons would be a “grave and tragic” mistake.
Washington has also warned any use or transfer of chemical weapons may trigger military action.
On Tuesday, Israeli Brigadier General Itai Brun, head of the research and analysis division of military intelligence, alleged Assad’s regime had used chemical agents more than once.
“To the best of our professional understanding, the [Assad] regime has made use of deadly chemical weapons against the rebels in a number of incidents in the last few months,” Brun told a security conference in Tel Aviv. His comments come on the heels of similar assessments reported to the UN by France and Britain last month.
Aram Nerguizian of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies said “it would take a lot more than a low grade assessment from the French and the British to trigger a major escalation here in Washington”.
“Does that mean that there’s not gonna be pressure to do something? No. There will certainly be pressure in the US, pressure in the Gulf, pressure in Syria, pressure in Europe,” he said.
