France claims proof of Assad regime sarin gas use
France says it has hard evidence the Syrian government has used chemical weapons in the civil war. Samples taken inside Syria and tested in France had confirmed that the nerve gas sarin had been used there on several occasions, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Tuesday.
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Discussions were underway to decide what kind of action should be taken and all options were on the table, Fabius told France 2 television.
France will not intervene unilaterally in Syria, the government said Wednesday.
"France will take no unilateral and isolated decision... It is now up to the international community," government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem told reporters.
His remarks came as a UN report said there was evidence that chemical weapons were used on four occasions with most of them carried out by government forces.
The report says the type of chemical used cannot yet be determined.
The British government, which has joined France in calling for foreign powers to arm the Syrian rebels, said Wednesday that it had "physiological" proof that sarin gas had "very probably" been used by Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Washington was more cautious than Paris on the question.
White House spokesperson Jay Carney said further investgations were necessary
This is the first time the UN has added the suspected use of chemical agents to its list of war crimes committed in the Syria.
Dzenan Sahovic, of CBRNe, the centre that trains the UN investigators, told RFI that the evidence so far is not conclusive.
Iran on Wednesday congratulated the Syrian army and people fora victory over rebels after seizing the strategic town of Qusay.
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