Israel claims to have proof Syria used chemical weapons against rebels, Obama talks ‘red line’
Israel has clear evidence of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s army using chemical weapons against rebels, a senior diplomatic source said Monday.
The official said the information is known to all intelligence agencies, and that there is no doubt the Assad regime had used weapons of mass destruction against opposition forces fighting to topple him.
Drawing by Strassengalerie via wikimedia commons
President Obama appears to be back and forth over the ‘red line’ and acting on Syria’s use of chemical weapons.
“What we now have is evidence that chemical weapons have been used inside Syria,” Obama told reporters. “What we don’t know is who used them. We don’t have a chain of custody. Without evidence of what happened, how can I make a decision what to do? I have got to make sure I have got the facts.”
“If we end up rushing to judgment without hard, effective evidence … we can find ourselves in a position where we can’t marshal the international community in support of what we do,” Obama said. “It’s important for us to do this in a prudent way.”
Israel may be more concerned about the possibility of the chemical weapons leaking to Hezbollah or other terrorist groups in Lebanon, the official said.
He also estimated the civil war is a long-term conflict and will not be resolved quickly.
Officials in Damascus have insisted publicly that the Syrian government has not been responsible for the use of chemical weapons.
“If I can establish the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime in a way that the US and international community can be sure of, that is a game changer,” Obama said. “By ‘game changer’ I mean we would have to review the range of options that are available. There are options at the moment that are on the shelf, but it is a spectrum of options and [use of chemical weapons] clearly would be an escalation of the threat.”
