US Secretary of State John Kerry has accused the Syrian government of using chemical weapons against civilians, paving the way for Washington’s military intervention in Syria.
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Speaking at the State Department on Monday, Kerry said the information from Syria shows that chemical weapons were used in the country.
"The indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders by chemical weapons is a moral obscenity. By any standard, it is inexcusable and - despite the excuses and equivocations that some have manufactured - it is undeniable," he told reporters.
"What is before us today is real and it is compelling," the top US diplomat said. "Our understanding of what has already happened in Syria is grounded in facts."
The announcement came after US President Barack Obama met with his national security team last week to discuss about Syria.
The allegation was made although Damascus allowed UN inspectors to visit a site that allegedly came under chemical attack on Wednesday. Obama administration officials, however, have dismissed as too late the Syrian offer.
There is still no evidence by the United Nations to blame the chemical attack on the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Syria has denied any role in the gas attack which left hundreds of people killed.
On Monday, the Syrian president once again dismissed the allegations.
“Failure awaits the United States as in all previous wars it has unleashed, starting with Vietnam and up to the present day,” Assad told Russian newspaper Izvestia. “The comments made by politicians in the West and other countries are an insult to common sense... It is nonsense.”
“Would any state use chemical or any other weapons of mass destruction in a place where its own forces are concentrated? That would go against elementary logic,” he added.
Meanwhile, a growing number of Republicans and Democrats in Congress urged President Barack Obama to approve military action against Syria.
“The world is a better place when the United States takes leadership; this is time for us to do this. I hope we’ll do it soon,” Rep. Eliot Engel (NY), the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said on Sunday.
Russia, however, has warned Western countries about the military strike.
In a phone call with Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday night, Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted that there was no evidence who was responsible for the chemical attack.
“President Putin said that they did not have evidence of whether a chemical weapons attack had taken place or who was responsible,” the British government spokesperson said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said Moscow “will not go to war with anyone” if the US and its allies attacked Syria, adding that any use of force against another country without UN Security Council approval was “a serious violation of international law.”
The Independent reported on Sunday that Western powers, including Britain, “are planning to take unilateral military action” against Syria “within two weeks.”
