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Russia Faults Proof of Use of Chemicals in Syrian War U.S. to Keep Warplanes in Jordan, Pressing Syria
(about 5 hours later)
MOSCOW — The Russian government on Saturday stepped up its attack on the accusation by the United States that Syria had used chemical weapons against the rebels in its civil war, saying that evidence cited by the Americans was unreliable because the samples were not properly monitored until they reached a laboratory. WASHINGTON — Ratcheting up the pressure on President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, the United States will keep American warplanes and antimissile batteries in Jordan, officials said Saturday.
The angry criticism by Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov at a news conference in Moscow was a setback to the United States’ efforts to forge a common position with the Kremlin on how to end the conflict, which has killed more than 90,000 Syrians. The decision, which came at the request of Jordan, means that a detachment of American F-16 warplanes and Patriot missile-defense systems would remain in Jordan after a military exercise there concludes next week. The move followed President Obama’s decision last week to send arms to Syrian rebels and came as efforts were being made on multiple fronts on Saturday to increase the pressure on the government.
In a tangible move to defend against a potential Syrian chemical weapons attack and also reassure an important ally, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has decided to increase the Pentagon’s presence in the region by approving a request from Jordan for the deployment of American warplanes and antimissile batteries there, officials said Saturday. In Cairo, President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt announced that he was severing relations with the Syrian government and withdrawing the Egyptian ambassador.
George Little, the Pentagon press secretary, issued a statement saying that a detachment of American F-16 warplanes as well as Patriot missile-defense systems would remain in Jordan after the end of a military exercise next week. All other American personnel assigned to the exercise will depart when it ends, he said. In Washington, Secretary of State John Kerry renewed his efforts to persuade Iraq to curtail Iranian air shipments of arms to Syria.
“The United States enjoys a longstanding partnership with Jordan and is committed to its defense,” Mr. Little said. American officials said Patriot missiles and F-16s would be kept in Jordan to reassure an important ally that has aligned itself with the United States in the political and military campaign against the Assad government.
The moves came as Secretary of State John Kerry delivered a stark warning on Saturday that the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons and Hezbollah’s decision to join the fight may make it impossible to achieve a political settlement. The Central Intelligence Agency has been training rebels in Jordan under a covert program, and weapons that are to be sent to the opposition by the United States are expected to be funneled through Jordan, both of which might heighten the risk of Syrian retaliation, including against possible training areas.
In a telephone conversation with his Iraqi counterpart, Mr. Kerry stressed that the United States still seeks a political solution to the Syrian conflict, but added pointedly that “the use of chemical weapons and increasing involvement of Hezbollah demonstrates the regime’s lack of commitment to negotiations and threatens to put a political settlement out of reach,” according to a statement issued by the State Department. “The United States enjoys a longstanding partnership with Jordan and is committed to its defense,” said George Little, the Pentagon press secretary.
Mr. Kerry flew to Moscow last month and secured Russia’s agreement to hold an international conference to try to bring an end to the fighting. Since then, however, the Obama administration has become concerned that the advances made by pro-government forces would give Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, little reason to negotiate a political transition in which he would give up power. American, Dutch and German Patriot antimissile batteries have already been deployed in Turkey to augment that nation’s defense against the threat of an attack with chemical-tipped ballistic missiles.
As a result, White House and State Department officials now favor delaying the talks. The provision of arms to the rebels, officials have said, is partly intended to turn the tide enough to force a real negotiation. Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser, all but ruled out the imposition of a no-fly zone in a conference call with reporters on Thursday, saying that the White House was not eager to take on such an open-ended commitment.
Another complication for any diplomatic effort is strains in the American and Russian relationship over Syria, which have grown since the Obama administration said it was convinced the Assad government had used chemical weapons. But the Patriots and F-16s would have some utility if the United States ever decided to support the establishment of a buffer zone between Syria and Jordan. Contingency plans for such a zone, which would be enforced by Jordanian troops on the Syrian side of the border and supported politically by the United States, have already been developed.
Russia has long supported the Assad government politically and by sending arms. Russia has also supported its refusal to agree to wide-ranging international inspections of potential chemical weapons use. The Obama administration is also adding to the diplomatic pressure on the Assad government. Mr. Kerry, in a phone conversation on Saturday with Iraq’s foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, called on Iraq “to take every possible measure to help end the military resupply of the Assad regime” and thus increase pressure for a political settlement, according to a statement released by the State Department.
A major concern of the Russians is that allegations of chemical weapons use will become a rationale for greater American and Western involvement in the crisis, including possible military action. During a March visit to Baghdad, Mr. Kerry pressed the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, to inspect Iranian flights that American intelligence says are carrying weapons, supplies and personnel to Damascus to support the Assad government. There was a lull in Iranian flights after Mr. Kerry’s visit, but the Iranian flights resumed again in early May.
Mr. Lavrov, speaking at a news conference on Saturday after meeting with Italy’s foreign minister, Emma Bonino, urged the United States to adhere to a plan to hold an international conference on Syria that would bring the Assad government and the rebels to the negotiating table. Although Mr. Kerry told Mr. Zebari that the United States is still seeking a political solution for the Syrian conflict, he also said that the Assad government’s use of chemical weapons and Hezbollah’s decision to join the fight on the side of the Syrian government “threatens to put a political settlement out of reach,” the State Department said.
In addition to questioning the reliability of the evidence, Mr. Lavrov complained that the suggestion of arms shipments by the United States would only prolong the bloodshed by encouraging the rebels to keep fighting. Even as the United States sought to build up the pressure on Mr. Assad, however, Mr. Kerry’s Russian counterpart pushed back, condemning the White House decision to send arms to the Syrian opposition and challenging its assertions that Mr. Assad’s forces had employed chemical weapons.
Russia has long supported the Assad government politically and by sending arms. A major concern of the Russians is that American accusations of chemical weapons use will become a rationale for greater American and Western involvement in the crisis, including possible military action.
Toward that end, Russia has also supported the Assad government’s refusal to agree to wide-ranging international inspections of potential chemical weapons use.
At a news conference in Moscow, Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said that the evidence the Obama administration had relied on in making its charges of chemical weapons use was unreliable because the samples were not properly monitored until they reached a laboratory.
“There are rules of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which are based on the fact that samples of blood, urine, soil, clothing are considered serious proof only if the samples were taken by experts,” Mr. Lavrov said, “and if these experts controlled these samples all the time while they are transported to a proper laboratory.”“There are rules of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which are based on the fact that samples of blood, urine, soil, clothing are considered serious proof only if the samples were taken by experts,” Mr. Lavrov said, “and if these experts controlled these samples all the time while they are transported to a proper laboratory.”
Mr. Lavrov said that the use of chemical arms made no sense, given the current state of the conflict. “The regime has not been driven into a corner now,” Mr. Lavrov said. “What sense does it make for the regime to use chemical weapons, especially in such small quantities, only to expose itself?” Mr. Lavrov asserted that the use of chemical arms by the Syrian government made no sense, given the current state of the conflict. “The regime has not been driven into a corner now,” Mr. Lavrov said. “What sense does it make for the regime to use chemical weapons, especially in such small quantities, only to expose itself?”
The White House referred questions on Mr. Lavrov’s charges of faulty intelligence to the director of national intelligence’s office. The White House referred questions on Mr. Lavrov’s charges of faulty intelligence to the director of national intelligence’s office, which did not respond to a request for comment.
On Thursday, Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, told reporters in a conference call that chemical weapons were used “on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year.” Mr. Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser, told reporters in the Thursday conference call that chemical weapons were used “on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year.” Mr. Rhodes and other American officials said that the assessment was based on evidence that included physiological samples, intelligence on the Assad government’s plans for the use of chemical weapons, accounts of specific attacks, and descriptions of symptoms experienced by victims of the attacks.
Mr. Rhodes and other American officials said that the assessment is based on evidence that includes physiological samples, intelligence on the Assad government’s plans for the use of chemical weapons, accounts of specific attacks and descriptions of symptoms experienced by victims of the attacks. Britain and France have also said there is convincing evidence that Syria has used chemical weapons.
One classified C.I.A. report from mid-March states that blood, hair and urine samples were taken from two rebel fighters — one dead and one wounded — who were exposed to sarin gas in a town near Damascus. Mr. Kerry flew to Moscow last month and secured Russia’s agreement to hold an international conference that would bring the Assad government and the Syrian opposition to the negotiating table to try to bring an end to the fighting. Since then, however, the Obama administration has become concerned that the advances made by pro-government forces would give Mr. Assad little reason to negotiate a political transition in which he would give up power.
In Washington, Mr. Kerry sought again to elicit Iraq’s cooperation in tamping down the conflict in Syria. In a phone call to Hoshyar Zebari, the Iraqi foreign minister, Mr. Kerry urged the Iraqi government to discourage Iraqi Shiites from joining the conflict. A substantial number of Iraqi Shiites from militias like Kataib Hezbollah and Asaib al-Haq have joined the fighting in Syria on the government’s side, with the encouragement of Iran, according to American intelligence. As a result, White House and State Department officials now favor delaying the talks. Supplying arms to the rebels, officials have said, is partly intended to turn the tide enough to force a real negotiation. Mr. Lavrov, by contrast, argued for moving forward with the international conference on Syria.
Mr. Kerry, the State Department said, also “urged that Iraq take every possible measure to help end the military resupply of the Assad regime.” Mr. Kerry pressed Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq to inspect the Iraqi flights during a March visit to Baghdad. There was a lull in Iranian flights after Mr. Kerry’s visit, but the flights resumed again in early May and are believed to be carrying weapons and war matériel for the Assad government. Egypt’s severing of relations with Syria also adds pressure on Mr. Assad. Mr. Morsi’s comments on Saturday amounted to a considerable hardening of his stance, after previously insisting on a diplomatic solution to the Syrian conflict and positioning himself as an interlocutor between Syrian allies like Iran and Mr. Assad’s regional opponents, including Saudi Arabia.
The United States’ conclusions on the use of chemical weapons have been echoed by its main allies. A senior adviser to the Egyptian presidency said Mr. Morsi had been swayed by what he said was the “confirmation” of chemical weapons use by the United States and other countries, as well as the reversal of opposition gains in Syria after the intervention by Hezbollah.

David M. Herszenhorn reported from Moscow, and Michael R. Gordon from Washington. Thom Shanker and David E. Sanger contributed reporting from Washington.

Speaking at a rally of his Islamist supporters in a Cairo stadium on Saturday, Mr. Morsi said that at the hands of Mr. Assad’s forces, Syrians were subject to “extermination” and “systematic ethnic cleansing sponsored by regional and international forces.”
He sharply criticized Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group whose fighters have joined the Syrian conflict on Mr. Assad’s behalf, saying the group “must leave Syria” and called for the imposition of a no-fly zone.
“This is serious,” Mr. Morsi said, to loud cheers.
Mr. Morsi’s speech, which was organized by Sunni clerics, seemed likely to satisfy Sunni conservatives throughout the region, who have increasingly framed the war in Syria as a sectarian fight against Shiites, especially Hezbollah.
American officials said that Mr. Morsi’s comments on Saturday were not prompted by the United States.

Reporting was contributed by David M. Herszenhorn from Moscow, Kareem Fahim from Cairo and Mayy El Sheikh from Assiut, Egypt.