DHAKA: US state secretary John Kerry asserted on Sunday that the United States now has evidence of sarin gas use in Syria and said ‘the case gets stronger by the day’ for a military attack.

A day after president Barack Obama stepped back from his threat to launch an attack, Kerry said in a series of interviews on the Sunday news shows that the administration learned of the sarin use within the past 24 hours through samples of hair and blood provided to Washington by first responders in Damascus.

Kerry also said he was confident that Congress will give Obama its backing for an attack against Syria, but he also said the president has the authority to act on his own if Congress does not give its approval.

While Kerry stopped short of saying Obama was committed to such a course even if lawmakers refuse to authorise force, he did tell ABC television’s This Week that ‘we are not going to lose this vote’, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 2051 HRS, SEPT 01, 2013
RoR/GCP