French intelligence says Assad forces carried out sarin attack in Syria
Paris — French intelligence has concluded that forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad carried out a sarin nerve gas attack on April 4 in northern Syria, and that Assad or members of his inner circle ordered the strike, a declassified report showed. The chemical weapons attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun killed scores of people, according to a war monitor, Syrian opposition groups and Western countries. It prompted the US to launch a cruise missile strike on a Syrian air base, its first deliberate assault on the Assad government in the six-year conflict. Assad has said in two media interviews since April 4 that the evidence of a poison gas attack was false, and has denied his government had ever used chemical weapons. The six-page French document — drawn up by France’s military and foreign intelligence services and seen by Reuters — said it reached its conclusion based on samples they had obtained from the impact strike on the ground, and a blood sample from a victim. "We...
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