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Bashar al-Assad's Syrian government is developing new types of chemical weapons, US says Bashar al-Assad's Syrian government is developing new types of chemical weapons, US says
(35 minutes later)
Trump administration officials have said the Syrian government may be creating new kinds of chemical weapons, in violation of a 2013 agreement to destroy its programme. Trump administration officials have said the Syrian government may be creating new kinds of chemical weapons, despite a 2013 agreement to destroy its programme.
The officials said Syria's most recent alleged chemical weapons attack suggests President Bashar Assad's regime is developing more sophisticated weapons, according to the Associated Press. The officials said the Trump administration was prepared to take military action to deter the use of such weapons, according to Reuters.
They may be developing the new weapons in order to improve their military capability or to escape international accountability, the officials said. "It will spread if we don't do something," warned one official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The US and Russia agreed to destroy Syria's chemical weapons and its equipment for manufacturing them in 2013, after a deadly attack in the country's capital. But the Trump administration officials said it was "highly likely" that Syria kept some weapons stockpiled after the intervention.
The officials said the characteristics of recent alleged attacks suggested the creation of new, different chemicals weapons by President Bashar al-Assad's regime. They believe the regime is developing these weapons in order to improve their military capability, or to escape international accountability.
US President Donald Trump ordered an air strike on Syria last April, after a suspected chemical weapons attack killed more than 100 people.
The US accused Mr Assad of launching another chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held area suburb near the capital last month. The alleged attack killed 20 civilians, most of whom were children.
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