(Reuters) - U.S.
and allied intelligence agencies have made a preliminary assessment that
chemical weapons were used by Syrian forces in an attack near Damascus
The early intelligence finding
could increase pressure for action by President Barack Obama, who made clear
that he planned to tread cautiously even as his aides sought to narrow their
differences in debate over possible military responses to the Syrian government.
But with a mounting international
outcry over the apparent mass poisoning of hundreds of people, the issue
appeared to have taken on a sense of urgency for the Obama administration.
In his first public comments
since Wednesday's attack in the Damascus suburbs,
Obama called the incident a "big event of grave concern" and one that
demanded U.S. attention, but
said he was in no rush to get war-weary Americans "mired" in another Middle East conflict.
Obama's wary response, which
underscored a deep reluctance by Washington to
intervene in Syria 's
2-1/2-year-old civil war, came as senior U.S. officials weighed choices
ranging from increased international sanctions to the use of force, including
possible air strikes on Assad's forces, administration sources said.
…
The Syrian government denies
being responsible and has in the past accused rebels of using chemical weapons,
an allegation that Western officials have dismissed.
CROSSING THE 'RED LINE'
While the preliminary U.S.
assessment was that Assad loyalists carried out Wednesday's attack with
high-level authorization, one U.S. source closely monitoring events in the
region said it was also possible that a local commander decided on his own to
use gas to clear the way for a ground assault.
"What we've seen indicates
that this is clearly a big event, of grave concern," Obama said in an
interview on CNN's "New Day" program that aired on Friday, as
anti-Assad rebels braved the front lines around Damascus to smuggle tissue samples to U.N.
inspectors from victims of Wednesday's apparent mass poisoning
Experts said previously when Assad is cornered he would chemical
weapons. It has been testing here and
there bit and bits, see what international community reaction, well they didn’t
do anything so far so Assad thinking this is another testing it is bit bigger,
and next time will be tens of thousand people would be killed. There is no doubt that Assad’s authorization
for gassing 2000 people to kill, a local commend can not used chemical weapon
just for pressures. Do not believed what Assad says he is a lair.
