The United States is looking into whether a toxic chemical was deployed in areas of Syria that are controlled by rebel forces seeking to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad, according to Reuters.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday the chemical was likely chlorine, if it was used, Reuters reported. Psaki added that officials were still trying to determine what happened in the village of Kafr Zita, but that the U.S. takes allegations about chemicals used in combat very seriously.
Psaki also said the U.S. was working with the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to get more details, according to Reuters. The United States has indications that a toxic chemical, probably chlorine, was used in Syria this month and is examining whether the Syrian government was responsible, the U.S. State Department said on Monday.
On Sunday, French President Francois Hollande told Europe 1 radio station that he had "several elements" suggesting recent use of chemical weapons in Syria, but no definitive proof, according to Reuters.
"We have indications of the use of a toxic industrial chemical" in the town of Kfar Zeita, State Department spokeswoman Psaki said, referring to a rebel-held area, Reuters reported.
A U.N. inquiry found in December that sarin gas had likely been used in Jobar, on the outskirts of Damascus, in August and in several other locations, including in the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Ghouta, where hundreds of people were killed, according to Reuters.
The Ghouta attack caused global outrage and a U.S. threat of military strikes that was dropped after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad pledged to destroy his chemical weapons arsenal, Reuters reported.
The Syrian government failed to meet a February 5 deadline to move all of its declared chemical substances and precursors, some 1,300 metric tons, out of the country, according to Reuters. It has since agreed to remove the weapons by late April.
