LONDON, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Britain agrees with the United States' assessment of chemical weapons use in Syria and calls for co-ordinated response from the international community, Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Friday.
"We agree with the U.S. assessment that chemical weapons, including sarin, have been used in Syria by the Assad regime," Hague said.
"The United Kingdom has presented evidence of the use of chemical weapons in Syria to the UN investigation, and we have been working with our allies to get more and better information about the situation on the ground," he said.
The foreign secretary called for "a strong, determined and coordinated response from the international community" on Wednesday in Washington and warned that "We have to be prepared to do more" about Syria.
Hague said there will be further discussions about response with the United States, France and other countries, including at the G8 meeting this week.
The White House announced on Thursday that the United States will provide direct military aid to the Syrian opposition for the first time.
The British government is yet to decide whether it will follow the U.S. lead. Prime Minister David Cameron maintains the position that "no decision has been taken" on arming the Syrian opposition but "nothing is off the table."
But a spokesperson for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the BBC that he remained against "any further militarization" of the conflict in Syria, saying the people there need peace not more weapons.
The White House concluded in a statement Thursday that the Syrian government had used chemical weapons against rebels, a major move that signals deeper U.S. involvement in the Syrian conflict.
Meanwhile, Syria's foreign ministry on Friday charged that the U.S. report of Syrian forces' use of chemical weapons against rebel fighters is "full of lies."
BRUSSELS, June 14 (Xinhua) -- NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Friday that any use of chemical weapons in Syria was "completely unacceptable" and a breach of international law.
His remarks came after the White House announced the Syria government had used chemical weapons against rebels.Full story
WASHINGTON, June 13 (Xinhua) -- White House concluded in a statement Thursday that the Syrian government had used chemical weapons against rebels, a major move that signals deeper U.S. involvement in the Syrian conflict.
"Following a deliberative review, our intelligence community assesses that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year," said White House Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes in the statement. Full story
BEIJING, June 5 (Xinhuanet) -- UN human rights investigators say both the Syrian government and rebel forces may have access to chemical weapons. The chairman of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria was speaking at a news conference on Monday ahead of the release of the commission’s report on Tuesday.
The commission examined four reported toxic attacks in March and April, but it could not determine which side was responsible for them. Full story
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