Samantha Power, the United States' ambassador to the United Nations, said Tuesday that a new chemical weapons report provided "more compelling evidence" that the Syrian government used chlorine gas on civilians.
The U.N. Security Council discussed the report behind closed doors Tuesday. It said investigators had a "high degree of confidence" that there were attacks on three villages last year.
Few details of the report emerged from the talks. It apparently does not say who was responsible for the gas attack.
But Power said 32 witnesses contended that they saw or heard helicopters just before the poison gas bombs fell. She said only the Syrian military has helicopters, not the rebels.
Syria pledged to give up all its chemical weapons and destroy the factories that build them. But chlorine gas, which has many industrial uses, is not considered a chemical weapon.
Syria denies using chemical weapons or any kind of gas on civilians. It blames such attacks on "terrorists" — the word it uses when talking about rebels.
