(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (KUNA) -- US Pentagon chief Jim Mattis said Friday that the US is concerned over the "possibility" of the use of sarin gas in Syria and that it is "looking for the evidence." Mattis told reporters that sarin gas is something that has been weaponized and that "we are even more concerned about the possibility of sarin use, the likelihood of sarin use, and we're looking for the evidence." He added "they'd be ill-advised to go back to violating the chemical convention." He noted, "we have other reports from the battlefield from people who claim it's been used. We do not have evidence of it. But we're not refuting them; we're looking for evidence of it." "Clearly we are dealing with the Assad regime that has used denial and deceit to hide their outlaw actions," he remarked.
He reiterated, "no, I have not got the evidence, not specifically. I don't have the evidence;" of the Syrian regime's use of sarin gas but that "groups on the ground, NGOs, fighters on the ground have said that sarin has been used." "We are looking for evidence. I don't have evidence, credible or uncredible," he stressed.
Last Thursday, US State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters that the US administration is "extremely concerned" about the latest report of a chemical weapons attack by the Syrian government forces in rebel-held East Ghouta.
"We take the allegations of chemical weapons use very seriously and are working with our partners on the ground to investigate the reports," she said, calling on the international community "to hold the perpetrators of these attacks accountable, and will speak with a united voice in condemnation." (end) si.mb
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