Washington: The Syrian Army likely used chemical weapons during an attack in the city of Homs last month, a State Department cable suggests.
A cable signed by the US consul general in Istanbul and sent to the State Department described an investigation by the consulate into the Dec. 23 attack.
The Cable wrote that an Obama administration official who reviewed the document, which was classified at the ‘secret’ level, detailed its contents to The Cable, the Huffington Post reports.
The official said that it was 100 percent, but Syrian contacts made a compelling case that Agent 15 was used in Homs on Dec. 23.
According to the report, the US and NATO representatives have warned the embattled Syrian regime that the use of chemical weapons would trigger an international reaction.
According to an international news agency, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters in December that the possible use if chemical weapons would be completely unacceptable for the whole international community and if anybody resorted to such terrible weapons it would be meted with immediate reaction from the international community.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist network based in Britain, claimed in December that six Syrian rebels had died after inhaling smoke in the city of Homs.
Syria denied the December accusations and said it would not use chemical weapons against its citizens.
While the US has said the use of chemical weapons would cross a "red line," the administration has refrained from specifying what action it would consider, the report said.
Activists estimate more than 60,000 people have died since the start of the conflict in Syria in March 2011, it added.
ANI
