CIVIL WAR

France Investigating Syria's Alleged WMDs

Foreign minister consulting with allies.

French officials say they are trying to verify whether Syrian troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have used chemical weapons. "There is increasingly strong evidence of localized use of chemical weapons," said Laurent Fabius, France's foreign minister, on Monday. "That must all be verified, we are doing that with other partners." Fabius made the comments after Le Monde newspaper announced it had first-hand knowledge that Syrian fighters used chemical weapons in Damascus against opposition forces. He also said France is consulting with its allies to figure out how it will deal with Syria if WMDs had, in fact, been used.