David Cameron has welcomed Washington’s ‘candid assessment’ that Assad forces have used chemical weapons against rebels on numerous occasions.
Britain shares the “candid assessment” by the US that the regime of President Bashar al-Assad has used chemical weapons against rebels in the Syrian conflict, David Cameron has said.
Speaking to the Guardian after the White House announced it had found evidence of the use of the nerve agent sarin, the prime minister praised the US for giving added detail which pose “difficult questions” about how to confront Assad. The US has said it will provide military support to the Syrian rebels after its “deliberative review”.
The prime minister showed support for the US when he told the Guardian in an interview before the G8 meeting in Northern Ireland: “We do [share the US judgment]. I discussed this with President Obama on my recent visit. Our intelligence agencies have been sharing information. We share their view that, as we put it, growing levels of information about chemical weapons used by the regime and no firm evidence that chemical weapons have been used by the opposition.”
“I welcome this candid assessment by the Americans. I think it, rightly, puts back centre stage the question, the very difficult question to answer but nonetheless one we have got to address: what are we going to do about the fact that in our world today there is a dictatorial and brutal leader who is using chemical weapons under our noses against his own people”, he added.