US: Syrian Regime Has Used Chemical Weapons

The White House has said it has conclusive evidence that Syrian President Bashar al Assad's forces haveused chemical weapons against opposition fighters. After months of investigation, Obama administration officials said the weapons have beenused "on a small-scale" to kill up to 150 people, crossingwhat President Barack Obama had marked as a "red line" for US intervention in the conflict. Mr Obama's deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, said the president had decided to provide "direct military support" to the opposition in light of the evidence. But he did not specify whether thesupport would include lethal aid, such as weapons, which would mark a reversal of Mr Obama's resistance to arming the rebels. Mr Rhodes said the shift came after an intelligence community assessment showed "the Assad regime has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in thelast year". "The intelligence community estimates that 100 to 150 people have died from detected chemical weapons attacks in Syria to date; however, casualty data is likely incomplete," he added. US officials said they have seen no evidence that opposition fighters have used such weapons. However a senior pro-Kremlin Russian politician said the information was fabricated to justifyUnited States intervention in the conflict. "Information about the use by Assad of chemical weapons has been fabricatedin the same place asthe lies about (Saddam) Hussein's weapons of mass destruction," Alexei Pushkov, head of the foreign policy committee in the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, said on Twitter. "Obama is taking the same path as George Bush." So far, American policy has focused entirely on providing the opposition with non-lethal assistance and humanitarian aid. The White House said the US would "make decisions on our own timeline" and would share its intelligence with theinternational community and the United Nations. "We are working with allies to present a credible, evidentiary case to share with the international community and the public," Mr Rhodes said. Mr Obama will discuss the assessments, along with wider problemsin Syria, next week during the G8 summit in Northern Ireland. Mr Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin - Mr Assad's closest international ally - will hold a one-on-one meeting on the sidelines of the summit, where the US leader is expected to press his Russian counterpart to drop his political and military support for the Syrian government. Culled from Sky News