France Urges ‘Force’ in Syria if Chemical Attacks Are Confirmed
As Western powers pressed the Syrian authorities to permit United Nations inspectors to examine the site of a claimed poison gas attack outside Damascus, France said on Thursday that outside powers should respond “with force” if the use of chemical weapons was confirmed.
Survivors from what activists say was a chemical weapons attack at a mosque on Wednesday in the Duma neighborhood of Damascus. More Photos »At the same time, Israel said its intelligence assessments pointed to the use of chemical weapons.
“According to our intelligence assessments there was use of chemical weapons,” the Israeli minister of strategic and intelligence affairs and international relations, Yuval Steinitz, told Israel Radio, “and this of course was not for the first time.”
Mr. Steinitz did not specifically accuse the government of President Bashar al-Assad of using chemical weapons on Wednesday, but in the past Israel has frequently accused pro-Assad forces of using weapons from its large stockpiles of such munitions.
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