Turkey’s P.M. Erdogan: Syria ‘clearly’ using chemical weapons

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it’s obvious — Syria’s government regime has used chemical weapons to attack rebels.

Mr. Erdogan also said he planned to discuss the matter further with President Obama, Ynet News reported.

“We will discuss the use of chemical weapons during our meeting with President Obama. It’s clear that the [Syrian President Bashar] Assad regime is using it,” he said in the Ynet report. “The opposition is in charge of the region, but Assad is the one using chemical arms, fighter planes and helicopters.”

Mr. Erdogan added: “These are the final moments of the regime, but we don’t know when it will fall,” Ynet reported. When it does happen, it’ll be sudden, he said.

Meanwhile, Syrian government officials continue to deny chemical weapons use — and that the government even possessed them. Information Minister Omran al Zoubi said to CNN that Mr. Assad’s government “would never use” these types of weapons “if we had them.”

Just as Mr. Obama called chemical weapons a “red line,” Mr. al Zoubi said, in Ynet, so, too, does the Syrian government.

“Mr. Assad … also thinks that chemical weapons are a red line,” he said.