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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, despite a 2013 agreement to destroy its programme. Trump administration officials have claimed the Syrian government may be creating new kinds of chemical weapons, despite a 2013 agreement to destroy its programme.
The officials said the Trump administration was prepared to take military action to deter the use of such weapons, according to Reuters. The US officials said the administration was prepared to take military action to deter the use of such weapons, according to Reuters.
"It will spread if we don't do something," warned one official, speaking on condition of anonymity."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 US and Russia agreed to destroy Syria's chemical weapons arsenal in 2013, after a deadly attack in the country's capital. Several UN Security Council resolutions and the Chemical Weapons Convention also ban the use of such weapons.
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. The Trump administration officials, however, said it was "highly likely" that Syria had stockpiled some of its weapons after the 2013 intervention.
US President Donald Trump ordered an air strike on Syria last April, after a suspected chemical weapons attack killed more than 100 people. 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 government is developing these weapons to improve their military capability, or to escape international accountability.
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. The news came shortly after scientists for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said they had linked samples from the 2013 attack to the Assad regime's stockpile, suggesting the government had been behind the attack all along. The scientists said the samples also matched those taken from the site of another alleged chemical attack last year.
More follows... The Syrian government has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons.
US President Donald Trump ordered an air strike on Syria last April, after a suspected chemical weapons attack killed more than 100 people. The strike was the first time the US had taken military action in Syria, and marked a departure from Mr Trump's typically non-interventionist foreign policy.
The US accused Mr Assad of launching another chemical weapons attack in a rebel-held area suburb near the capital last month. The alleged attack killed 20 civilians, most of whom were children.
The US State Department blamed the attack on Russia's "unwillingness or inability to restrain the Assad regime" at the time.
"Russia ultimately bears responsibility for the victims in eastern Ghouta and countless other Syrians targeted with chemical weapons since Russia became involved in Syria," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said.
Diplomats from 29 countries gathered last month for the first meeting of a new organisation that will target governments who continue to use chemical weapons. The group plans to publish information about chemical attacks, and eventually sanction the perpetrators. They expected to put pressure on both Syria and Russia.