The White House is pushing back against an Associated Press report that said the administration believes Russia had prior knowledge of the April 4 chemical attack against Syrian civilians.
The AP report, filed Monday afternoon, cited a “senior U.S. official” who said a drone operated by Russia flew over a hospital as victims of the chemical attack rushed there to get treatment. That hospital was later bombed in what the U.S. believes was an attempt to cover up the fact that chemical weapons had been used.
“Until Monday, U.S. officials had said they weren’t sure if the drone was operated by Russia or Syria. The senior official said it still wasn’t clear who was flying the jet that bombed the hospital,” AP reported. “The official said the presence of the drone couldn’t have been a coincidence, and that Russia must have known the chemical weapons attack was coming and that victims were seeking treatment.”
On Monday night, however, a senior administration official told the Washington Examiner that the jury is still out on what Russia knew.
“At this time, there is no U.S. Intelligence Community consensus that Russia had foreknowledge of the Syrian chemical attack,” the official said.
Likewise, a senior Pentagon official told the Washington Examiner that there was no new evidence that Russia knew or somehow aided the Syrian regime in its attack on civilians.
The chemical attack was used as the basis for President Trump’s missile strike on Syria late last week, during which two U.S. Navy destroyers fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Shayrat airfield, which was a staging area for the chemical attack.
Two military officials who briefed reporters last Friday on the suspicions were careful to point out they had no evidence that Russia knew of the chemical attack or helped it in any way.
“To be clear, we have no knowledge of Russian involvement in this attack, but we will investigate any information that might lead us in that direction,” one official said. “We’re not done. We will continue to look more aggressively.”
Jamie McIntyre contributed to this report.
