French report claims Syrian gov't behind alleged chemical attack

French intelligence services' report presented during a defense meeting in Paris said the Syrian government was responsible for the gas attack in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun earlier this month, a presidency office's statement said on Wednesday.

"The intelligence services have presented elements that allow to independently affirm the involvement of the Syrian regime's forces in the chemical attack perpetrated on April 4 in Khan Sheikhoun," the statement said.

"These elements further show that the regime still holds chemical warfare agents, in violation of commitments to destruct them that it took in 2013," it added.

French intelligence services' document was based on "collected biomedical and environmental samples and munitions and pieces of munitions in Syria on several occasions," according to national evaluation report on the chemical attack in Syria.

It confirmed the use of chlorine and sarin several times, it added.

After a defense council, Foreign Minister Jean Marc Ayrault said, "The use of sarin is without question. The responsibility of the Syrian regime is also without question."

"The authors of the atrocities in Khan Cheikhoun should answer for their criminal acts. France, in cooperation with its partners, will continue to be greatly engaged in this," he added.

The Syrian government has been accused of using fatal gas in a strike targeting the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in the country's northwestern province of Idlib on April 4. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Right, 87 people were killed in the strike.

Damascus has repeatedly denied possession of any chemical weapons. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad described the report on suspected use of chemical arms as "100 percent fabrication" to justify western powers' strikes against Syria. Endit