Syria warned: No gas attack

WASHINGTON — The White House issued a stern warning to Syrian President Bashar Assad on Monday night as it claimed “potential” evidence that he was preparing for another chemical weapons attack.

In an ominous statement issued with no supporting evidence or further explanation, press secretary Sean Spicer said the U.S. had “identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children.”

He said the activities were similar to preparations taken before an April 2017 attack that killed dozens of men, women and children, and warned that if “Mr. Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price.”

The White House offered no details on what prompted the warning, and spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she had no further information.

Several State Department officials typically involved in coordinating such announcements said they were caught off guard by the warning, which didn’t appear to be discussed in advance with other national security agencies. Typically, the State Department, the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies would all be consulted before the White House issued a declaration sure to ricochet across foreign capitals.

A nongovernmental source with close ties to the White House said the administration had received intelligence that the Syrians were mixing precursor chemicals for a possible sarin gas attack in either the east or south of the country, where government troops and their proxies have faced recent setbacks.

Assad (photo) denied responsibility for the April 4 attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun in the rebel-held Idlib province that killed dozens of people, including children.

Days later, President Trump launched a retaliatory cruise missile strike on a Syrian government-controlled air base where U.S. officials said the military had launched the attack.