Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has again used chemical weapons against his own people, according to a new report.
The report said there is sufficient evidence to believe Assad has now used sarin and chlorine against Syrian civilians in his struggle to maintain control over the country against the Free Syrian Army.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) previously warned the Obama administration that Assad possessed chemical weapons after Assad first crossed Obama’s red line. After the new reports surfaced on Thursday, Cotton took to the Senate floor to condemn Obama’s inaction on the human crisis.
"Where are we now? Exactly where a few of my colleagues and I warned that we would be," Cotton said.
The freshman senator was not the only expert who saw this coming.
"The sarin revelations shouldn’t be a surprise given the regime’s track record," Robert Ford, the former ambassador to Syria, said. "It’s a violation of the deal we struck with the Russians and it’s a violation of the deal the Syrian regime struck with the UN."
Cotton said Assad has shifted his method of murder to chlorine gas attacks to use against the Syrian people.
"I am appalled by these reports the Syrian regime has retained stocks of chemical weapons, but I can’t say that I am surprised," Cotton said.
"Anyone with eyes to see knew the message President Obama had sent. When he flinched in 2013 in the face of Assad’s regime brutal and brazen use of sarin gas against civilians, it only emboldened Assad to test U.S. resolve.
Cotton said Obama’s waffling on his red line emboldened the Assad regime.
"Under Barack Obama, America increasingly looks like the weak horse," Cotton said.
The Ayatollah of Iran will take advantage of Obama’s perceived unwillingness to intervene in Middle Eastern affairs, resulting in a bad nuclear deal with Iran, Cotton said.