- The Washington Times - Friday, July 19, 2013

A Free Syrian Army spokesman has accused Syrian President Bashar Assad of giving two shipments of chemical weapons to Hezbollah, the terrorist group that’s based in Lebanon.

Fahad al Masri made the statements on El Nashra, a Lebanese online news site, on Thursday, The Times of Israel reported. He also said that international security teams had knowledge of the weapons transfer.

No other sources confirmed his statements, The Times of Israel reported.

But he specified in his claim that the weapons had been moved from a site just outside Damascus to a location in Lebanon within the past few weeks. He also said the transfer was conducted by Syrian and Iranian authorities, The Times of Israel reported.

His claim came just as a U.S. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey testified before a Senate panel that the White House was mulling military force in Syria.

Gen. Dempsey said he given President Obama several different scenarios for providing weapons, or supplying rebel fighters with military aid, The Times of Israel said.

But he didn’t cite specifics, only saying “it would be inappropriate for me to try to influence the decision with me rendering an opinion in public about what kind of force we should use,” The Times of Israel reported.

• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.

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