The European Union agreed Saturday that the August 21 chemical attack outside Damascus appears to have been the work of Syrias regime,but that any potential military attack against it should wait for a UN inspectors report. After meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry,the EU ministers ended days of division on the issue with a statement saying the available intelligence seems to indicate strong evidence that the Syrian regime is responsible for these attacks. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius,who hosted the meeting,put it more bluntly in targeting Syrian President Bashar Assad,speaking of more and more evidence that the Assad regime is behind all these crimes. We cant just ignore this. The EU nations,most of which have been skeptical of a quick retaliatory strike against the regime,underscored the need to move forward with addressing the Syrian crisis through the UN process. Kerry welcomed the stand of the 28 EU nations,calling it a strong statement backing all the efforts to hold the Assad regime accountable for what it has done. Germany joined in blaming the attack on the Syrian government. It had been the only European member of the G20 not to co-sign a joint statement issued Friday at the end of the groups meeting in St Petersburg,Russia,blaming the regime.
