US Believes Syria Used Chemical Weapons ‘On A Small Scale’

The United States accused Syria on Thursday of using chemical weapons during the country’s two year civil war, which has killed more than 70,000 people.

The accusation by the US follows similar ones from France, the United Kingdom, and Israel. All four have claimed evidence that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has used chemical weapons on his people.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke about the accusation on Thursday in Abu Dhabi, saying:

“The U.S. intelligence community assesses with some degree of varying confidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically the chemical agent sarin.”

The White House released a similar statement minutes later, also confirming the possibility that Syria used chemical weapons. The press release added that “this assessment is based in part on physiological examples. Our standard of evidence must build on these intelligence assessments as we seek to establish credible and corroborated facts.”

The accusations by the United States come just two days after the head of research for Israel’s military intelligence told a security conference that Syria used chemical weapons against rebel fighters more than once in the past few months. The specific incident in question happened on March 19 near Aleppo, in which 26 people died.

After the announcements by the White House and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) told reporters it was “pretty obvious” that the red line was crossed in Syria. McCain added, “The president of the United States said this would be a red line if they use chemical weapons.”

The sentiments were echoed by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who explained the United States should move quickly in Syria to secure the country’s chemical weapons before they fall into the wrong hands. He added that the US should seek to control the “inevitable second war” in Syria. He explained:

“There are up to six thousand al Qaeda type fighters now in Syria, the country is fragmenting along with sectarian violence and chaos is reigning. The day that Assad fall there will be as surely as I’m standing here a conflict between the majority of Syrians who want to move forward and live in peace and a small element of radical jihadists.”

It is unclear what the United States will do with the latest reports of Syria using chemical weapons.

[Image via Leon E. Panetta]