U.S. Intel Officials Suspect Syria's Assad Retained Chemical Weapons

The Washington Free Beacon reports:

U.S. intelligence agencies are concerned that the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad might still harbor some chemical weapons and could use them in an attempt to prevent his ouster, the Wall Street Journal reports. 

While Assad was supposed to relinquish all of his chemical weapons as part of a 2013 deal brokered by the United States and Russia, intelligence officials say he might have retained small amounts of deadly nerve agents. His regime has also launched dozens of attacks with chlorine, an industrial chemical that can be lethal when weaponized.
The Journal reports: 

Last year, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad let international inspectors oversee the removal of what President Barack Obama called the regime’s most deadly chemical weapons. The deal averted U.S. airstrikes that would have come in retaliation for an Aug. 21, 2013, sarin-gas attack that killed more than 1,400 people. 

Since then, the U.S. officials said, the Assad regime has developed and deployed a new type of chemical bomb filled with chlorine, which Mr. Assad could now decide to use on a larger scale in key areas. U.S. officials also suspect the regime may have squirreled away at least a small reserve of the chemical precursors needed to make nerve agents sarin or VX. Use of those chemicals would raise greater international concerns because they are more deadly than chlorine and were supposed to have been eliminated. 

The intelligence is “being taken very seriously because he’s getting desperate” and because of doubts within the U.S. intelligence community that Mr. Assad gave up all of his deadliest chemical weapons, a senior U.S. official said. […] 

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former commanding officer of the British army’s chemical-weapons unit, said: “Even if the regime had only one ton of VX left, that would be enough to kill thousands of people.”

The Assad regime now reportedly controls only about one-fourth of Syria amid victories for the Islamic State, other terrorist groups, and U.S.-backed rebels.

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Is chlorine covered under the chemical weapons agreement with Assad ?




Barack Obama says chlorine gas historically  isn't a chemical weapon.....



Is there any other evidence that Syria didn't get rid of all their chemical weapons?



Is there other evidence of remaining chemical weapons?

John Kerry 'Absolutely Certain' Assad Using Chlorine Attacks on his People

The Obama administration isn't credible on any issue or in the eyes of our foreign adversaries. Syria is another great example of this.  Chlorine gas attacks in Syria have been going on for years now, with only bluster and B.S. coming out of this administration in Washington D.C.

An excerpt from The Hill from 06/16/2016
John Kerry 'absolutely certain' Assad using chlorine attacks on his people

Secretary of State John Kerry is “absolutely certain” that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has launched chlorine attacks on its own people is currently compiling evidence to support it, he told reporters Tuesday.  

“I am absolutely certain, we are certain that the preponderance of those attacks have been carried out by the regime,” Kerry said Tuesday during a surprise appearance at the State Department’s daily press briefing, noting that it’s possible that some members of the opposition could have used chlorine in attacks as well. 

“It has been significantly documented; it’s dropped from airplane. The opposition isn’t flying airplanes or helicopters,” he said. 

“And you can go through a certain sort of tracking of the delivery system and delivery approach. It’s frankly not that hard to pin down in the end, and that’s some of what we will lay out at the appropriate time.” 

Kerry added that he’s discussed the findings with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and, while he’s confident the Russians will raise the issue with Syria again, patience is “wearing thin” over the “extraordinary depravity” of the weapons Assad is allegedly using against his own people. 

“We are not simply sitting there and allowing this to happen without any efforts to see if there is a way to stop it,” Kerry said. “Thus far, it has not been stopped and it is only increasing the international community’s anger at the Assad regime.”

In April 2014 the State Dept. responded to reports of Assad using chlorine gas, a prohibited weapon by their agreement with Assad.



Barack Obama downplays the use of Chlorine on civilians......


Barack Obama claims to have disposed of Syrian Chemical Weapons.......


Barack Obama and his administration armed ISIS in Syria and overlooked the use of chemical weapons for years now. Obama's claim to have destroyed Syria's WMD is just further proof that Putin and Assad outplayed the amateur, Barack Obama, at every turn.  .