While continuing to pound the drum beat, President Barack Obama has failed to provide evidence to the public that shows Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, or a member of his inner circle, ordered a chemical weapons attack last month.
Reuters highlighted the failure of U.S. officials to demonstrate the link in an article published Saturday.
"No direct link to President Bashar al-Assad or his inner circle has been publicly demonstrated, and some U.S. sources say intelligence experts are not sure whether the Syrian leader knew of the attack before it was launched or was only informed about it afterward," read the article.
A United Nations (UN) arms expert collects samples as they inspect the site where rockets had fallen in Damascus' eastern Ghouta suburb during an investigation into a suspected chemical weapons strike near the capital. UN chief Ban Ki-moon said his investigating team would report back this week on the suspected use of chemical weapons in Syria as embattled President Bashar al-Assad vowed to resist any US strike. (AFP/Getty Images)
"While U.S. officials say Assad is responsible for the chemical weapons strike even if he did not directly order it, they have not been able to fully describe a chain of command for the August 21 attack in the Ghouta area east of the Syrian capital," it continued, later adding it is "one of the biggest gaps" left to be answered.
Reuters added that "U.S. and allied intelligence services are still trying to work out who ordered the poison gas attack on rebel-held neighborhoods near Damascus."
Obama is scheduled to do a series of interviews on several news articles Monday night, before addressing the nation on Syria Tuesday.
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