Report: Soil sample confirms WMD use in Syria...

                                          'Times of London' reports soil samples Britain smuggled out of Syria establish use of chemical weapons, unclear by whom.

Evidence of the use of chemical weapons has been discovered in a soil sample smuggled out of Syria, The Times of London reported on Saturday.

The report quoted anonymous British defense sources who said that "some kind of chemical weapon" was used in Syria but they could not tell whether the chemicals were used by Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces or by the rebels.

The finding was established by the British Ministry of Defense's chemical and biological research establishment at Porton Down in in Wiltshire. The sources ruled out that the chemical traces found in the soil were from substances used to control riots with one saying, “There have been some reports that it was just a strong riot-control agent but this is not the case — it’s something else, although it can’t definitively be said to be sarin nerve agent.”

The soil sample was smuggled out of Syria in a secret British operation that was revealed by a report in The Times in March.

Western diplomats said evidence of chemical weapons use were found, but failed to specify. "There are several examples where we are quite sure that shells with chemicals have been used in a very sporadic way," one such diplomat was quoted as saying.

Another diplomat said that "quite convincing" evidence was sent to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to back the accusations made against forces loyal to Assad. However,The Times report quoted a source who said the soil analyzed by Porton Down “did not point the finger definitively at the Assad regime.”...

(THE JERUSALEM pOST)