Pentagon officials say there has been no indication the Syrian military is prepared to launch another chemical weapons attack following last Saturday’s missile strikes by the United States, France and Britain, but Washington and its allies “remain vigilant.”

Chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana White told reporters Thursday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “must know the world will not tolerate the use of chemical weapons under any circumstances.”

The recent U.S.-led strikes were launched in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of people in Douma earlier this month. The U.S. and its allies blame Syria for the attack, but Damascus and Russia deny any such weapons were used.

“Russia immediately began a misinformation campaign to sow doubt and confusion to hide its complicity,” White said following the recent missiles strikes. “Russia falsely claimed Syria air defense shot down a significant number of missiles when, in fact, all of our missiles hit their targets.”

Joint Staff Director, Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, said Thursday that U.S. military officials believe there was probably some chlorine and some sarin at all of three Syrian chemical weapons facilities targeted in last Saturday’s missile strikes. But he admitted that without direct access, “that will likely be an open question.”

In Syria, inspectors from the global chemical weapons watchdog are waiting to enter the site of the April 7 alleged gas attack in Douma.

A United Nations security team came under small-arms fire and an explosive was detonated as they tried to carry out a reconnaissance mission in the Syrian town earlier this week.

“On arrival at Site 1, a large crowd gathered and the advice provided by the UNDSS [U.N. Department of Safety and Security] was that the reconnaissance team should withdraw,” the head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Ahmet Uzumcu said Wednesday. “At Site 2, the team came under small-arms fire and an explosive was detonated.”

“At present, we do not know when the FFM team can be deployed to Douma,” the OPCW chief added, referring to his organization’s fact-finding mission.

VOA’s Jeff Seldin and Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.
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