Post date: Aug 22, 2013 11:4:44 AM
White House spokesman calls alleged chemical weapons in Syria use "deplorable and unacceptable."
WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (AUGUST 21, 2013) (NBC) - The United States will consult with its partners on the United Nations Security Councilabout reports of chemical weapons use in Syria, a White House spokesman said on Wednesday (August 21).
White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in a briefing that U.S. officials have not yet been able to independently verify reports about the use of such weapons in Syria by government forces, but expressed alarm about the reports and called urgently for a United Nations investigation to get underway."We have seen these reports, we have consulted with some of our partners in the region about these reports, but that is why we are calling for this UN investigation to be conducted," Earnest said. "There is an investigation team that is on the ground in Syria right now and we are hopeful that the Assad regime will follow through on what they have claimed previously, that they are interested in a credible investigation that gets to the bottom of reports that chemical weapons have been used, so again, it's time for the Assad regime to live up their rhetoric in this regard."
Syria's opposition accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces of gassing many hundreds of people - by one report as many as 1,300 - in a pre-dawn attack on Wednesday. Assad's government denied using chemical weapons.
"The United States will be consulting with our allies and our partners on the United Nations Security Council about this (reports of chemical weapons use), because this is and should be a top priority of the United Nations," Earnest said.
Earnest said he did not want to speculate on what may or may not have happened but said he hoped the UN inspectors on the ground will be able to do their job.
"Let us give them the opportunity to take a look at what happened, let us give them the opportunity to interview witnesses, let us give them the opportunity to collect some physical evidence, and then we we can reach a conclusion about what exactly happened there. But suffice it to say that though the use of chemical weapons is something that the United States finds totally deplorable and completely unacceptable, and those who are responsible for the use of chemical weapons, if it's determined that is what happened, will be held accountable," he said.
Syria's opposition accused government forces of gassing hundreds of people near Damascus on Wednesday after rockets released deadly fumes over rebel-held suburbs, killing men, women and children as they slept.
What would be the world's most lethal chemical weapons attack since the 1980s prompted an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council set for 1900 GMT. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was shocked.
Images, including some by freelance photographers supplied to Reuters, showed scores of bodies - some of them small children - laid on the floor of a clinic with no visible signs of injuries.
Some images showed people with foam around their mouths.
Reuters was not able to verify the cause of their deaths.
The Syrian government denied it had used chemical arms.
The United States and others said it had no independent confirmation that chemical weapons had been used.