11 April 2017, 16:48 GMT
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The preparation for the recent chemical attack against civilians in Syria started back in March, a senior US National Security official said in a briefing on Tuesday.
"We have information that suggests that personnel historically associated with the chemical weapons programs were at Sha’irat airfield in late March preparing for this attack," the senior official stated.
The US intelligence community is still assessing whether Russia knew of the chemical attack allegedly carried out by the Syrian government, according to a senior White House official.
"We are still looking into what we think the intelligence community assessment is…Russian knowledge or involvement," the official stated.
The United States is confident that terrorists did not conduct the April 4 chemical attack in Syria since neither they nor rebels have access to sarin, a senior White House official said in a briefing.
"We are very confident that terrorists did not commit this particular attack. We are confident as well that these terrorists or rebels don’t have sarin," the official stated.
