An official in the administration of former President Barack Obama admits they "always knew" Syrian President Bashar al Assad still had chemical weapons, despite a 2013 agreement that indicated otherwise, reported The New York Times.
"We always knew we had not gotten everything, that the Syrians had not been fully forthcoming in their declaration," Tony Blinken, a former deputy secretary of state and former deputy national security adviser under Barack Obama, told the Times.
The Obama administration put together the agreement with Russia and Syria, touting the pact as a success at the time. Former Secretary of State John Kerry hailed the agreement in 2014, saying it had resulted in Syria destroying "100 percent" of its chemical agents.
Assad purportedly used chemical weapons in a strike early last week against civilians in a city in northern Syria, killing scores of people. The U.S. quickly responded as President Donald Trump ordered a missile strike on Thursday against a military base in Syria.
The move was met with support from Democrats and Republicans, with Ann-Marie Slaughter, a former Obama State Department official, Tweeting the strike came after "years of useless handwringing in the face of hideous atrocities."
Other former officials in the Obama administration have placed the blame on Assad for not revealing the extent of his chemical weapons arsenal, according to the article.
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