France: No doubt Assad regime using sarin gas

France said Tuesday it has proof that President Bashar al-Assad's regime is using the deadly nerve agent sarin gas in Syria's civil war, adding that "all options," including armed intervention, were on the table. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that decision point has not yet been reached, while Washington said it needed more evidence before concluding that sarin has been used in the conflict-wracked country. Fabius said that laboratory tests had revealed the use of the gas "several times in a localised manner". "We have no doubt that the gas is being used. ... The laboratory tests are clear," he said in televised remarks after French laboratory tests on blood and hair samples from Syria pointed to the use of sarin gas. "There is no doubt that the regime and its accomplices" are using them, he added. "A line has been indisputably breached. We will hold talks with our partners on what we must do and all options are on the table," to decide "whether to react, including in an armed manner," Fabius said. "But we are not there yet," Fabius said, referring to armed intervention. "We must react, but at the same time we must not block an eventual peace conference," he said, referring to US- and Russia-backed efforts to get the rebels to join peace talks in Geneva. White House spokesman Jay Carney said meanwhile that Washington needed more evidence before declaring formally that sarin gas has been used in Syria. "We need to expand the evidence we have ... before we make any decision," Carney said, alluding to President Barack Obama's stated position that use of the deadly nerve agent would be a "game-changer" for Washington. French diplomats said the unidentified samples tested by the French laboratory had come from two locations: Jobar, a suburb of Damascus, and Saraqeb in the northwest of the country. The samples from near Damascus were brought back to France by two Le Monde journalists who reported the use of chemical weapons in the area in mid-April. There were no details on how France obtained the other sample. Fabius said he had transferred his results to the United Nations, which is seeking to establish whether chemical weapons have been used in Syria. UN investigators said earlier Tuesday they had "reasonable grounds" to believe both sides in Syria have used chemical weapons. It was the first time the Commission of Enquiry on Syria -- tasked with probing human rights violations in Syria since 2011 -- added the suspected use of chemical weapons to its long list of war crimes committed in the country. Without providing details, the report lists four chemical attacks: on the Khan al-Asal neighbourhood of the northern battleground of Aleppo and Uteibah, near Damascus, both on March 19, on the Sheikh Maqsood district of Aleppo on April 13, and on Saraqeb on April 29. The commission also called for Damascus to grant full access to Syria for another group of experts tasked by UN chief Ban Ki-moon with investigating the possible use of chemical weapons who have been barred by the regime. Commission member Carla del Ponte, a high-profile former war crimes prosecutor, warned however that focusing too heavily on chemical weapons could overshadow the overall suffering in the country. Del Ponte had said in May, citing witness reports, that Syrian rebels had used sarin gas, which can be fatal even at very low concentrations. France is the first country to say it is certain that chemical weapons have been used in Syria. France's statement comes just a day before a preparatory meeting in Geneva for a US- and Russia-backed peace conference on Syria to hammer out terms to get President Bashar al-Assad's camp and the rebels to negotiate directly for the first time. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin, a key backer of Assad, said Moscow has so far refrained from supplying the powerful S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Damascus for fear of upsetting the delicate balance of power in the volatile region. -- Fighting raging in besieged Qusayr -- His remarks came as fighting raged on in Syria's besieged city of Qusayr, with both sides battling for control of the strategic post. Putin -- who has used Russia's veto at the UN Security Council to shield Assad's regime from repeated attempts to impose UN sanctions -- said Moscow had already signed a contract to deliver S-300s. But he appeared to back down from Moscow's earlier insistence that the missiles would be a "stabilising factor" that could deter foreign intervention in Syria. "The contract was signed several years ago. It has not been realised yet," Putin said at a joint press conference with European Union leaders in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg. "We do not want to upset the balance in the region." The weapon could theoretically shoot down Israeli jets and harm any Western military support missions. Syria's civil war has already cost more than 94,000 lives in 26 months of fighting. The latest fighting on the ground in Syria saw a missile strike near Syria's biggest city Aleppo kill 26 people and government warplanes pound Qusayr. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were numerous dead on both sides but gave no other details. The Observatory also said shellfire near the Russian embassy in Damascus had killed a civilian and wounded a member of the security forces. A representative of the Russian embassy in Damascus told AFP two Syrian security guards had received injuries but that no embassy staff had been killed or hurt in the attack. US-based group Human Rights Watch meanwhile said its mission to Aleppo had concluded that the bodies of 147 men pulled out of a local river between January and March were "probably" executed in government-controlled areas of the northern city.