TEL AVIV — The Syrian government has used chemical weapons on rebels, Israel’s top military intelligence official said at a security conference on Tuesday.
Brig. Gen. Itai Brun, the head of research and analysis in Israeli military intelligence, said that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime has used chemical weapons multiple times.
“Shrunken pupils, foaming at the mouth and other signs indicate, in our view, that lethal chemical weapons were used,” he said.
He said sarin, a lethal nerve agent, was probably used. He also said the Syrian regime was using less lethal chemical weapons, and that Russia has continued to arm the Syrian military with weapons such as advanced SA-17 air defense missiles.
His assessment echoes similar findings from British and French officials.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said here Monday that chemical weapon use would cross a “red line” and that the Pentagon had contingency plans to deal with it.
U.S. officials have not made the determination that chemical weapons have been used by the Syrian government in its civil war. But the Israeli finding is sure to increase calls for U.S. intervention there.
Pentagon spokesman George Little said Tuesday following Brun’s comments that “the United States continues to assess reports of chemical weapons use in Syria. The use of such weapons would be entirely unacceptable. We reiterate in the strongest possible terms the obligations of the Syrian regime to safeguard its chemical weapons stockpiles, and not to use or transfer such weapons to terrorist groups like Hezbollah.”
Contributing: Associated Press
Tom Vanden Brook
Tom Vanden Brook covers the military, hails from Wisconsin and is a proud co-owner of the Green Bay Packers. He and his journalist-wife Katherine walk their Lab Duchess in the Washington area.
