The United States acknowledges that chemical weapons were used in Syria but cannot confirm the details behind those attacks President Obama said Tuesday.
"And what we now have is evidence that chemical weapons have been used inside of Syria, but we don't know how they were used, when they were used, who used them; we don't have chain of custody that establishes what exactly happened," Obama told reporters.
"And when I am making decisions about America's national security and the potential for taking additional action in response to chemical weapon use, I've got to make sure I've got the facts," he said.
The Obama administration has repeatedly said that the use of chemical weapons would represent a "game changer" in Syria but has not specified what that would mean in terms of America's involvement in the ongoing civil war.