WASHINGTON
United States (US) government said Friday that the US was determined with high confidence the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its own people, as the White House released a four-page report summarizing their case against the Assad regime.
"We further assess that the regime used a nerve agent in the attack. These all-source assessments are based on human, signals, and geospatial intelligence as well as a significant body of open source reporting" said the report, noting that classified assessments were shared with the US Congress and key international partners.
Reminding that 1,429 people were killed in the chemical weapons attack, including at least 426 children, the White House stressed "Our high confidence assessment is the strongest position that the US Intelligence Community can take short of confirmation. We will continue to seek additional information to close gaps in our understanding of what took place."
US government, reporting that Syrian officials planned and executed chemical weapons attacks and laboratory analysis of physiological samples obtained from a number of individuals, which revealed exposure to sarin, also stated that the opposition had not used chemical weapons.
"The Syrian regime maintains a stockpile of numerous chemical agents, including mustard, sarin, and VX and has thousands of munitions that can be used to deliver chemical warfare agents," the report said.
"Preparation for the attack"
"In the three days prior to the attack, we collected streams of human, signals and geospatial intelligence that reveal regime activities that we assess were associated with preparations for a chemical weapons attack," said the US government, adding,
"Syrian chemical weapons personnel were operating in the Damascus suburb of ‘Adra from Sunday, August 18 until early in the morning on Wednesday, August 21 near an area that the regime uses to mix chemical weapons, including sarin. On August 21, a Syrian regime element prepared for a chemical weapons attack in the Damascus area, including through the utilization of gas masks. Our intelligence sources in the Damascus area did not detect any indications in the days prior to the attack that opposition affiliates were planning to use chemical weapons."
Symptoms on the victims
Stating that the report based on the one hundred videos attributed to the attack, many of which show large numbers of bodies exhibiting physical signs consistent with, but not unique to, nerve agent exposure, the US government said:
"The reported symptoms of victims included unconsciousness, foaming from the nose and mouth, constricted pupils, rapid heartbeat, and difficulty breathing. Several of the videos show what appear to be numerous fatalities with no visible injuries, which is consistent with death from chemical weapons, and inconsistent with death from small-arms, high-explosive munitions or blister agents."
Adding there was a substantial body of information that implicates the Syrian government’s responsibility in the chemical weapons attack that took place on August 21, the White House concluded the report "As indicated, there is additional intelligence that remains classified because of sources and methods concerns that is being provided to Congress and international partners."
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