US Tries to Blame Syria for ‘Chemical Attack’ as Doubts Grow on Past Claims

Pompeo vows action after May 19 attack wounded civilians

The US State Department issued a new statement on Thursday, claiming that they concluded the Syrian government used “chlorine gas” in a May 19 rocket attack which wounded a handful of civilians around Idlib.

That the US reached this “conclusion” is hardly a surprise, as they had blamed Syria pretty much the instant it was reported, and there is no sign that any actual investigation took place, just a reiteration of the US position.

Blaming Syria for chemical attacks is the go-to policy, but this statement is ill-timed, as it comes amid growing doubts about the much bigger April 2017 accusation, with scientists reporting that there is evidence that the allegations were false.

The accusations are also increasingly a political issue, with intense pressure on publications not to publish research documents that don’t support the Trump Administration’s claims, and the US never offering anything that looks like evidence.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.