US sources: Despite strikes, Syria's Assad can still wage chemical attacks
WASHINGTON - US assessments following the US, British and French missile strikes on Syria show they had only a limited impact on President Bashar Assad's ability to carry out chemical weapons attacks, four US officials told Reuters.
The conclusion contrasts with the Trump administration's assertion that the strikes on Saturday hit at the heart of Assad's chemical weapons program, language suggesting that Assad's ability to stage more attacks had been dealt a devastating blow.
But the US officials said the available intelligence indicated that Assad's stock of chemicals and precursors was believed to be scattered far beyond the three targets.
Some of it, US and allied intelligence suggests, is stored in schools and civilian apartment buildings, which one of the officials referred to as "human shields."
