WASHINGTON — The US has evidence that Syrian poison gas killed at least 1,429 people — including 426 children, Secretary of State John Kerry said today in an impassioned plea for action against the Assad regime.
Previous estimates, even from anti-Assad rebel groups, ranged from a few hundred to 1,300 fatal victims of the August 21 assault.
Kerry revealed the details as he denounced Bashar Assad as a “thug and a murderer.”
Kerry said Assad’s forces were at the site of the attack for three days beforehand, making preparations – even telling supporters to prepare for the attack by putting on gas masks.
Kerry’s comments came moments before President Barack Obama said he still hadn’t made a decision about possible action in Syria.
Obama said he recognized the world and the U.S. are war-weary in the face of potential military action but the United States has an obligation “as a leader in the world” to hold countries accountable if they violate international norms.
Regarding the U.N., Obama said: “there is an incapacity for the Security Council to move forward.”
Kerry said the US had evidence that the rockets came from regime-controlled areas and said a senior regime official confirmed that the weapons were used and was afraid it would be discovered.
His charges came as Assad’s air force launched new strikes on rebel-held suburbs of Damascus, including Mouadmeyeh, which was hit by the chemical weapons last week.
Kerry also revealed that after the US learned of last week’s attack, “I personally called the foreign minister of Syria, and I said to him, ‘If, as you say, your nation has nothing to hide then let the United Nations in immediately and give the inspectors the unfettered access, so they have the opportunity to tell your story.’”
“Instead, for four days, they shelled the neighborhood in order to destroy evidence, bombarding block after black at a rate four times higher than they had over the previous 10 days,” Kerry added.
“And, when the UN inspectors finally gained access, that access — as we now know — was restricted and controlled.”
Kerry’s comments came as the administration declassified a chemical weapons assessment that said Assad’s government used an unidentified nerve agent in the attack.
The report cites human and satellite intelligence that it says backs up publicly available videos and other evidence of the ghastly massacre.