Syrian forces accused of chemical warfare

WASHINGTON -- The United States has conclusive evidence that Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime has used chemical weapons against opposition forces, crossing what President Barack Obama has called a "red line" that would trigger greater American involvement in the conflict, the White House said yesterday.

Obama deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said Obama was planning to step up military assistance to opposition forces in Syria in response to the use of the nerve gas sarin. But he would not outline what specifically the United States planned to provide or how quickly the increased aid would arrive.

"We've prepared for many contingencies in Syria," Rhodes said. "We are going to make decisions on further actions on our own timeline."

However, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told reporters on Capitol Hill yesterday that he had been told Obama was "going to provide arms to the rebels."

Yesterday's announcement followed a series of urgent meetings at the White House this week that revealed deep divisions within the administration over U.S. involvement in Syria's fierce civil war. While some State Department officials are pressing for more robust action, advisers close to Obama are wary of sending weapons and ammunition into a war zone where Hezbollah and Iranian fighters are backing Assad's armed forces, and al-Qaida-linked extremists back the rebellion.

The White House said the Assad regime had used chemical weapons, including sarin, on a small scale multiple times in the last year. Up to 150 people have been killed in those attacks, the White House said, constituting a small percentage of the 93,000 people killed in Syria over the last two years.

The Obama administration announced in April that it had "varying degrees of confidence" that sarin had been used in Syria. But it said at the time that it had not been able to determine who was responsible for deploying the gas.

The more conclusive findings were aided by evidence sent to the United States by France, which along with Britain, announced it had determined that Assad's government had used chemical weapons in the two-year conflict.

Obama has said repeatedly that use of chemical weapons would constitute a "game changer" for U.S. policy on Syria, which has focused entirely on providing the opposition with nonlethal assistance and humanitarian aid.

The White House said Congress has been notified of the new U.S. chemical weapons determination. Obama will discuss the findings, along with broader problems in Syria, during the G-8 summit next week in Northern Ireland.