Summary US official and French President says they have enough evidence that Syria used chemical weapons.
WASHINGTON (AP) - A senior administration official says there is "very little doubt" that a chemical weapon was used by the Syrian regime against civilians in an incident that killed at least a hundred people last week.
The official says Sunday that the U.S. intelligence community based its assessment given to the White House on "the reported number of victims, reported symptoms of those who were killed or injured, and witness accounts." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly.
The official says the White House believes the Syrian government is barring a U.N. investigative team immediate access to the site of a reported Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburbs in order to give the evidence of the attack time to degrade.
Meanwhile, France s president has said a "body of evidence" suggests that chemical weapons were used during attacks on a Damascus suburb that killed hundreds, and that Syrian President Bashar Assad s regime was most likely behind it.
According to a statement Sunday from his office, Francois Hollande said "everything" leads France to believe the regime was behind the attack. It didn t elaborate.
International aid group doctors without borders said Saturday it had tallied 355 deaths from Wednesday s attack in Damascus eastern Ghouta suburb.
Assad s regime and Syria s rebels have traded accusations about who was behind it.
The question has fanned debate about possible military intervention in this Middle Eastern country mired in civil war since 2011.
U.S. naval forces have moved closer to Syria as President Barack Obama considers a military response.
