Britain said on Thursday it believed it was “very likely” that the Syrian government had used chemical weapons, but said it had “no evidence to date” that rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had used such arms.

When asked about reports that rebel forces had used the banned nerve agent sarin, a spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron said: “Our assessment is that chemical weapons use in Syria is very likely to have been initiated by the regime. We have no evidence to date of opposition use.”

(Reuters)