Obama: ‘A Line Has Been Crossed’ in Syria
President Obama on Friday said “a line has been crossed” in Syria but cautioned that more “direct evidence” is needed to confirm a chemical weapons attack.
Speaking alongside King Abdullah of Jordan in the Oval Office, Obama said that the United States was working with countries like Jordan to obtain more evidence and confirmation of a potential chemical attack by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.
“To use weapons of mass destruction on civilian populations crosses another line in terms of international norms and laws. … That’s going to be a game changer,” Obama said.
Obama did not say whether his “red line” regarding chemical weapons use had been crossed by the Assad regime, but he said “a line had been crossed” when tens of thousands of Syrians had been killed by government forces in the two-year conflict.
“Knowing that there’s chemical weapons in Syria doesn’t tell us when they were used or how they were used,” he said. “We ourselves will be putting a lot of resources on this.”
White House officials have said that no decisions are being made about the next steps the Obama administration would take in Syria until evidence of a chemical attack is corroborated.
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