No easy answers on how to deal with Syria, Obama says

As pressure to arm rebels or hit Assad ramps up, president warns against making decision based on perceptions

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says there are no easy answers to resolving the civil war in Syria and says he doesn’t make decisions based on perceptions.

The Obama administration has been seeking further evidence about claims that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons on its citizens.

Obama says that while there is a desire for easy answers, “that’s not the situation there.”

Obama made his remarks during a news conference with South Korea’s president, Park Geun-hye.

The comments came a day after a UN panel looking into war crimes in Syria said it has not found conclusive evidence of chemical weapons use, backing away from a member’s claims that there are indications rebel forces used the nerve agent sarin.

The commission “wishes to clarify that it has not reached conclusive findings as to the use of chemical weapons in Syria by any parties to the conflict,” the panel said.

Panel member and former war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte told Swiss TV on Sunday that the commission had indications Syrian rebel forces used nerve agent sarin as a weapon.

The US has said intelligence indicates Syria has used the nerve agent sarin on at least two occasions, but Obama has stressed that he needs more definitive proof before making a decision about how to respond — and whether to take military action.

Damascus denies using chemical arms, and says the opposition is trying to frame it.

The panel was appointed by the 47-nation Human Rights Council, the UN’s top human rights body, to gather evidence on suspected war crimes and other abuses. It began its investigation in August 2011.

It has had almost no access to the ground in Syria, though earlier this year it said it had conducted at least 1,500 interviews and exhaustively corroborated its findings with other sources.

Lists of people suspected of human rights violations who could be prosecuted under international law are being kept secret by the UN’s top human rights official.

The panel’s next report to the UN Human Rights Council is on June 3.