U.S. Challenges Israeli Charge About Syrian Chemical Weapons
U.S. officials said they haven’t seen conclusive evidence supporting an assertion by Israel’s top military intelligence analyst that Syrian government forces have used chemical weapons against rebels.
Secretary of State John Kerry and spokesmen from the White House and the Pentagon said investigations haven’t produced hard proof that Bashar al-Assad’s regime has used toxic chemicals -- a step that President Barack Obama has said would cross a “red line.”
“We have not come to the conclusion that there has been that use,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters in Washington. “It is precisely because of the seriousness of the use of chemical weapons -- and the seriousness with which the president made clear that that use would be unacceptable -- that it is incumbent upon us and our partners to investigate thoroughly and validate or verify allegations of chemical weapons use.”
Israeli Brigadier General Itai Brun, chief of research and analysis for the army’s military intelligence division, cited photographic and other forms of evidence today indicating Syria used chemical weapons last month near Damascus and Aleppo.
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Still, a senior researcher at the Tel Aviv institute expressed doubt about Brun’s assertion.
“I know how it looks when chemical weapons attacks take place and what is happening in Syria doesn’t look like that,” said Shlomo Brom, a retired general and former chief of the Israeli army’s strategic planning division. “The number of casualties is too low and the sources of information are not credible.”
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-23/israeli-intelligence-says-syria-using-chemical-weapons.html
