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Subscribe: Digital / Home Delivery Log In Register Now Help Home Page Today's Paper Video Most Popular U.S. Edition Search All NYTimes.com Middle East . World Africa Americas Asia Pacific Europe Middle East U.S. N.Y. / Region Business Technology Science Health Sports Opinion Arts Style Travel Jobs Real Estate Autos Israel Says Syria Has Used Chemical Weapons By JODI RUDOREN and DAVID E. SANGER Published: April 23, 2013 Facebook Twitter Google+ Save E-mail Share Print Single Page Reprints TEL AVIV – Israel’s senior military intelligence analyst said Tuesday that the Syrian government had repeatedly used chemical weapons in the last month, and criticized the international community for failing to respond, intensifying pressure on the Obama administration to intervene. Enlarge This Image Pool photo by Jim Watson U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel met a group of Israeli soldiers during his visit to a an army base near Tel Aviv on Tuesday. Connect With Us on Twitter Follow @nytimesworld for international breaking news and headlines. Twitter List: Reporters and Editors . “The regime has increasingly used chemical weapons,” said Brig. Gen. Itai Brun, research commander in the intelligence directorate of the Israeli Defense Forces, echoing a recent finding by Britain and France. “The very fact that they have used chemical weapons without any appropriate reaction,” he added, “is a very worrying development, because it might signal that this is legitimate.” General Brun’s statements are the most definitive by an Israeli official to date regarding evidence of chemical weapons attacks on March 19 near Aleppo and Damascus. Another military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the evidence had been presented to the Obama administration — which has declared the use of chemicals a “red line” that could prompt American action in Syria — but that Washington has not fully accepted the analysis. “When you draw a red line, you have very little interest in crossing it, if crossing it means you have to take action,” said the official, who was not authorized to address the matter publicly. In briefings on Tuesday, the Israelis said they believed that the attacks March 19 involved the use of sarin gas, the same agent used in a 1995 attack in the Tokyo subway that killed 13. The Syrian attacks killed “a couple of dozens,” the military official said, in what Israel judged as “a test” by President Bashar al-Assad of the international community’s response. He said the government had deployed chemicals a handful of times since, but that details of those attacks were sketchier. “Their fear of using it is much lower than before using it,” the official said. “If somebody would take any reaction, maybe it would deter them from using it again.” Regarding possible further attacks, he added, “Now I’m more worried than I was before.” Israel has been deeply reluctant to act on its own in Syria, for fear that it could bolster President Assad by uniting anti-Israel sentiment. But the public statements regarding the attacks, days after the British and French governments wrote to the United Nations Secretary General saying they, too, had evidence of chemical use, complicates the situation for Washington. President Obama said last month during his visit to Israel that proof of chemical weapons use would be a “game changer.” But Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Monday that the intelligence regarding the attacks remained inconclusive, and his press secretary, George Little, said Tuesday that the Pentagon was continuing to assess reports on the matter. “The use of such weapons would be entirely unacceptable,” Mr. Little said in Amman, Jordan, where Mr. Hagel landed Tuesday. “We reiterate in the strongest possible terms the obligations of the Syrian regime to safeguard its chemical weapons stockpiles, and not to use or transfer such weapons to terrorist groups like Hezbollah.” Speaking about Syria at a conference of Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies here, General Brun said “it is quite clear that they used harmful chemical weapons,” citing “different signs” including pictures of victims “foaming at the mouth.” He went beyond the March 19 attack to speak of “continuous” use of such weapons, and described a “huge arsenal” of more than 1,000 tons stockpiled in Syria. The military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that Israel based its analysis mainly on publicly available photographs of victims, but said there was also corroborating “direct evidence” that he would not detail. The United States has also made efforts to gather evidence from the field. 1 2 Next Page » Thom Shanker contributed reporting from Amman, Jordan, and Hwaida Saad from Beirut, Lebanon. Save E-mail Share Get Free E-mail Alerts on These Topics Syria Biological and Chemical Warfare Israel National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces Log In With Facebook Log in to see what your friends are sharing on nytimes.com. Privacy Policy | What’s This' What’s Popular Now The Jobless Trap New York Proposes Raising Minimum Age for Cigarette Purchases . MOST E-MAILED MOST VIEWED 1. Well How Therapy Can Help in the Golden Years 2. A Virtual Pack, to Study Canine Minds 3. PAUL KRUGMAN The Jobless Trap 4. 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