U.S. Weighing Syria Options

06:18

August 23, 2013

A Syrian woman who lives in Beirut holds a candle and placard during a vigil against the alleged chemical weapons attack on the suburbs of Damascus, in front the United Nations headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2013. (Hussein Malla/AP)

The Pentagon is updating target lists as the White House considers a military response in Syria, after an attack in which U.S. officials say they saw "strong indications" of chemical weapons use.

U.S. officials are saying that there are "strong indications" that chemical weapons were used in this week's attack in Syria which left more than 1,000 people dead.

While experts are still sifting through the evidence, President Barack Obama, speaking on CNN today, said, "what we've seen indicates that this is clearly a big event of grave concern."

The president has been criticized for not acting after earlier reports that the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad Obama had used nerve agents as it battled to retain power in the face of wide spread opposition and violence.

Those reports came after President Obama had warned Syria that the use of chemical weapons would mean crossing a "red line."

Washington Post: Five reasons the U.S. doesn’t act on Syria chemical weapons reports
New York Times: Obama Officials Weigh Response to Syria Assault
Wall Street Journal: U.S. Weighs Plans to Punish Assad

Guest

Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma. He tweets @joshua_landis.

This segment aired on August 23, 2013.

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