US confirms Syria’s Assad used chemical weapons in May: Pompeo

[TomSea]

US confirms Syria’s Assad used chemical weapons in May: Pompeo
AFP Thursday, 26 September 2019

The United States has confirmed that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces used chemical weapons in May, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday, vowing a response.

“The United States has concluded that the Assad regime used chlorine as a chemical weapon,” Pompeo told reporters, saying the attack will “not go unchallenged.”

Read more at: https://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/us-confirms-syrias-assad-used-chemical-weapons-in-may-says-mike-pompeo

[edpc]

But Pompeo appeared to downplay the prospect of military action, noting that the attack involved chlorine, which affects the respiratory system.

The Khan Sheikhun attacks, which the United Nations said killed 83 people, entailed sarin, an ultra-potent gas that devastates the nervous system.

"So it's a bit of a different situation," Pompeo said.


Is it? The strike in 2018 was in response to the use of chlorine. It was about one year after the strike in retaliation for the use of sarin.


Allegations of Assad’s chlorine use are frequent in Syria’s conflict, raising questions about whether Washington had effectively lowered the threshold for military intervention.

Last year, the United States only waged strikes in Syria after determining that more deadly sarin gas was used. Some U.S. media had said Washington was confident Assad had also used sarin on April 7.

Mattis, however, suggested the evidence of sarin was so far inconclusive.

“We are very confident that chlorine was used. We are not ruling out sarin right now,” Mattis said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-mattis-idUSKBN1HL04K