Defense Secretary Hagel: Syrian Regime Has Used Chemical Weapons
For the first time Thursday, the Obama administration said it believes the Assad regime in Syria has used chemical weapons against the opposition forces who have been fighting for control of the country for more than two years. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel made the announcement to reporting during a press conference in Abu Dhabi.
Hagel said, “The U.S. intelligence community assesses with varying degrees of confidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically the chemical agent sarin.” He added that the “decision to reach this conclusion” happened within the last 24 hours.
“We cannot confirm the origin of these weapons, but we do believe that any use of chemical weapons in Syria would very likely have originated with the Assad regime.” Referring to a letter the White House has sent to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI), Hagel said that President Obama has declared the “use of chemical weapons or the transfer of such weapons to terrorist groups would be unacceptable.”
Hagel did not indicate to reporters whether this new information would trigger a “red line” for the U.S. to intervene in Syria, but the president does state in his letter that “no option is off the table.” During a press conference in Israel last month, Obama said the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government would be a “game-changer.”
Watch video below, via CNN:
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