UK: Assad behind chemical weapons attack

Chances that Syrian opposition is responsible for massacre near Damascus are ‘vanishingly small,’ says Foreign Secretary Hague

By AP 23 August 2013, 7:42 pm 4 Edit

British Foreign Secretary William Hague at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office in Jerusalem, in May 2013 (photo credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90/File)

LONDON — Foreign Secretary William Hague says Britain believes the regime of Syria’s President Bashar Assad carried out a chemical weapons attack near Damascus that killed scores of people.

Hague said Friday the only “plausible explanation for casualties so intense in such a small area” was a chemical attack.

In a statement on TV, he said chances the Syrian opposition was behind the attack were “vanishingly small. We do believe this is a chemical attack by the Assad regime on a large scale.”

Hague said UN chemical weapons inspectors must be given immediate access to the site.

Hague did not echo a French statement that force could be used if the attack is proven to be the work of the regime. But he said “we don’t rule out any option for the future.”