{"id":64636,"date":"2018-02-02T01:34:37","date_gmt":"2018-02-02T01:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/02\/02\/us-says-syria-making-new-chemical-weapons-despite-2013-deal\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T11:39:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:39:39","slug":"us-says-syria-making-new-chemical-weapons-despite-2013-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/flashpoints\/2018\/02\/02\/us-says-syria-making-new-chemical-weapons-despite-2013-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"US says Syria making new chemical weapons despite 2013 deal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The Trump administration on Thursday accused Syrian President Bashar Assad\u2019s government of producing and using \u201cnew kinds of weapons\u201d to deliver deadly chemicals despite committing to abolish its program in 2013, and said the world must find a way to stop it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Donald Trump has not ruled out additional military action to deter attacks or punish Assad, administration officials said, although they did not suggest any action was imminent. They emphasized that the United States was seeking a new way to hold chemical weapons-users accountable and wanted cooperation from Russia<\/a>, Assad\u2019s patron, in pressuring him to end the attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raising the alarm about the continued threat, U.S. officials said it was \u201chighly likely\u201d that Assad kept a hidden stockpile of chemical weapons after 2013<\/a> that he failed to properly disclose. They said information gathered from recent alleged attacks also suggested that Assad retained a \u201ccontinued production capacity\u201d \u2014 also banned under the 2013 deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were no indications that the Syria government, after seven years of civil war, had developed new, deadlier chemicals. Rather, the officials said Assad\u2019s forces are using the same chemicals<\/a> \u2014 chlorine and sarin \u2014 but in more sophisticated ways, potentially to evade international accountability by making the origins of attacks harder to trace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barrel bombs used earlier in the war to disperse chemicals indiscriminately, for example, have been replaced by ground-launched munitions, officials said. More recent attacks have involved both chlorine, which has nonchemical uses and is easier to acquire, and the more sophisticated chemical sarin, the officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The officials weren\u2019t authorized to speak on the record and briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Syrian man prays on July 12, 2017, at a cemetery in Khan Sheikhun, a rebel-held town in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province, 100 days following a suspected toxic gas attack that was reported to have killed 88 people, including 31 children. (Omar Haj Kadour\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Though evidence-collection is different in the middle of a war zone, the officials said the U.S. has a firm understanding of the extent of chemical use in Syria through a combination of intelligence, sample testing by third countries, and social media and other open-source information, the officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assad\u2019s government has denied using chemical weapons. Syria\u2019s chief ally, Russia, has claimed that the reports are false attempts to pressure Syria\u2019s government or provocations perpetrated by opposition groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\t