White House: Assad regime used chemical weapons

Following a deliberative review, the U.S. intelligence community assesses that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, on a small scale against the Syrian opposition multiple times in the last year, the White House said. President Barack Obama has said that the use of chemical weapons in Syria "would change his calculus, and it has," the announcement made late on Thursday said. "We are prepared for all contingencies, and we will make decisions on our own timeline," the White House statement said. "Any future action we take will be consistent with our national interest, and must advance our objectives, which include achieving a negotiated political settlement to establish an authority that can provide basic stability and administer state institutions; protecting the rights of all Syrians; securing unconventional and advanced conventional weapons; and countering terrorist activity," it said. The U.S. intelligence community "has high confidence" in its assessment that the Assad regime used chemical weapons, "given multiple, independent streams of information," the statement said. "The intelligence community estimates that 100 to 150 people have died from detected chemical weapons attacks in Syria to date; however, casualty data is likely incomplete. While the lethality of these attacks make up only a small portion of the catastrophic loss of life in Syria, which now stands at more than 90,000 deaths, the use of chemical weapons violates international norms and crosses clear red lines that have existed within the international community for decades." U.S. officials believe that the Assad regime maintains control of these weapons, the White House said, adding, "We have no reliable, corroborated reporting to indicate that the opposition in Syria has acquired or used chemical weapons." The body of information used to make the intelligence assessment includes reporting regarding Syrian officials planning and executing regime chemical weapons attacks; reporting that includes descriptions of the time, location and means of attack; and descriptions of physiological symptoms that are consistent with exposure to a chemical weapons agent, the statement said. "Some open source reports from social media outlets from Syrian opposition groups and other media sources are consistent with the information we have obtained regarding chemical weapons use and exposure," it said. "The assessment is further supported by laboratory analysis of physiological samples obtained from a number of individuals, which revealed exposure to sarin. Each positive result indicates that an individual was exposed to sarin, but it does not tell us how or where the individuals were exposed or who was responsible for the dissemination." U.S. officials are working with allies "to present a credible, evidentiary case to share with the international community and the public," the White House said. Following on the credible evidence that the regime has used chemical weapons against the Syrian people, Obama has augmented the provision of non-lethal assistance to the civilian opposition, and also authorized the expansion of U.S. assistance to the Supreme Military Council (SMC), "and we will be consulting with Congress on these matters in the coming weeks," the statement said. "This effort is aimed at strengthening the effectiveness of the SMC, and helping to coordinate the provision of assistance by the United States and other partners and allies," it said. "Put it simply, the Assad regime should know that its actions have led us to increase the scope and scale of assistance that we provide to the opposition, including direct support to the SMC. These efforts will increase going forward." The United States and the international community have a number of other legal, financial, diplomatic and military responses available, the White House said.