Republican Rep. Tom Cotton (Ark.), who is running for Senate, said on Tuesday he has no doubt that Bashar al-Assad intentionally used chemical weapons to attack an opposition area outside of Damascus, following classified briefings from Obama administration officials.
"In recent days, I have participated in classified briefings about the use of chemical weapons in Syria," Cotton said in a statement. "I also read the top-secret classified report made available to representatives and senators. The briefings and report contain the evidence supporting the administration’s publicly stated conclusions; this evidence cannot be made public without compromising vital intelligence sources and methods."
Cotton said alternative theories, including the claim that opposition figures may have used the chemical weapons on themselves in order to gain international support, are not plausible based on the classified intelligence.
"Having reviewed the evidence, I have virtually no doubt that the administration’s publicly stated conclusions are accurate: Bashar al-Assad’s regime intentionally used chemical weapons on August 21 against opposition-controlled suburbs of Damascus," said Cotton. "Alternative theories of culpability are not plausible at this time given the evidence I have reviewed. Assad’s use of chemical weapons last month is consistent with his pattern of using such weapons to break a stalemate in areas that he has struggled to seize."
The White House has also released an unclassified report detailing its conclusions on the chemical weapons attack on Friday.
Several politicians and commentators have suggested that the attack that reportedly killed over 1,400 was a "false flag" operation by the anti-Assad opposition or Israel designed to draw the United States into war.