Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday insisted a U.N. report released this week establishing that chemical weapons were used in Syria proves the Assad regime was responsible for gassing its own people in a devastating attack last month.
“They returned with several crucial details that confirm that the Assad regime is guilty of carrying out that attack. Even though that was not the mandate of the U.N. report,” Kerry said in a press conference. “But anybody who reads the facts and puts the dots together, which is easy to do, and they made it easy to do, understands what those facts mean.”
Kerry said the report places the onus on the world community, hinting at Russia, to act in the face of such an attack.
“Now the test comes,” he added. “The security council must be prepared to act next week. It is vital for the international community to stand up and speak out. And the strongest possible terms about the importance of enforceable action to rid the world of Syria’s chemical weapons.”
Russian officials harshly criticized the report, calling it biased and incomplete, the New York Times reported Thursday.
