The United Nations released its report on Syria and chemical weapons on Monday, detailing the “clear and convincing evidence” that chemical weapons were used in Syria.
“The conclusion is that chemical weapons have been used in the ongoing conflict between the parties in the Syrian Arab Republic…against civilians, including children, on a relatively large scale,” the report wrote on its first page, according to the Associated Press.
The inspection team was tasked with finding out whether and which chemical weapons were used; not report who activated them.
The report comes on the heels of news that the United States and Russia had reached an agreement to disarm the Syrian regime of its chemical weapons without military action.
President Obama has said that he will not take the use of force off the table.
On Sunday, the president credited the threat of military action for the diplomatic agreement.
“As a consequence of the pressure that we’ve applied over the last couple of weeks,” Obama said. “We have Syria first, for the first time acknowledging that it has chemical weapons, agreeing to join the convention that prohibits the use of chemical weapons.”
Jane Timm