Biological and Chemical Weapons

WASHINGTON, May 7 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday defended his deliberate approach to determining whether Syria used chemical weapons and pointed to the fates of Osama bin Laden and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi as evidence that "we...

WASHINGTON -- For all the armchair generals advocating U.S. military intervention in Syria, I have a few questions: Is human suffering the reason for the United States to act? That is the noblest and most altruistic of motives, and the estimated 70,...

BEIRUT — A leading member of a United Nations investigatory commission says there are “strong concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof” that Syrian rebels have used the nerve agent sarin. Carla del Ponte, a former...

The hawks are squawking. Congressional conservatives and the right-wing media are blasting President Barack Obama for going soft on the Syrians. The president insists there is a "game-changing" red line the Syrian government will have crossed if it is...

GENEVA, May 6 (Reuters) - U.N. war crimes investigators have reached no conclusions on whether any side in the Syrian war has used chemical weapons, the inquiry commission said on Monday, playing down a suggestion from one of the team that rebel forces...

WASHINGTON, May 6 (Reuters) - The White House is "highly skeptical" of suggestions that Syrian rebels used chemical weapons, spokesman Jay Carney said on Monday in response to comments by a U.N investigator that rebel forces have used the nerve agent,...

(Adds strikes detail, chemical arms comments, Golan Heights mortar) * After air strikes, Israel seeks to ease tension with Syria * China urges restraint during Israeli PM's visit * Russia says chance of foreign intervention growing * Oil price rises...

(Adds U.S. senator introducing bill to arm Syrian rebels, paragraphs 26-28) * After strikes, Israel seeks to ease tension with Syria * China urges restraint during Israeli PM's visit * Russia says chance of foreign intervention growing * Oil price...

Reports that rebel fighters in Syria may have used chemical weapons in their fight against the regime there are damaging if true, U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly said today. But he cautioned against jumping to conclusions until all of the facts are in. "If...

BEIRUT — Huge explosions were reported in Damascus early Sunday, just two days after a reported Israeli airstrike in Syria targeting surface-to-air missiles possibly destined for neighboring Lebanon and the militant group Hezbollah. Syrian state...

JERUSALEM -- Amid reports that Israeli warplanes struck a weapons cache in Syria this week, a senior Israel defense ministry official said Saturday his nation was closely monitoring unrest in its neighbor but remained confident that Syria’s chemical...

President Barack Obama painted himself into a corner last summer when he said Syrian President Bashar Assad's use of chemical weapons against rebel forces would be a "red line for us." Now there's evidence that chemical weapons have been used in Syria,...