The United Nations secretary-general, Ban Ki-Moon, has said that he believes that a soon-to-be-released report on the Aug. 21 attack in Syria will have "overwhelming" evidence that chemical weapons were used in the strike that killed over 1,400 people including hundreds of women and children, according to the New York Times.
"I believe that the report will be an overwhelming, overwhelming report that chemical weapons were used even though I cannot publicly say at this time before I receive this report," Ban said on Friday.
In addition to the comment Ban said that he believes that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "has committed many crimes against humanity." Despite the two comments Ban did not say who he believed was responsible for using the chemical weapons in the Aug. 21 attack, Assad's regime or the opposition forces, according to Reuters.
It is not the job of the U.N. weapons inspectors to determine who was responsible for using the weapons; they are only required to find out if chemical weapons had been used. It may be possible to tell which side used the banned weapons by analyzing physical samples, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Ake Sellstrom, a chemicals expert from Sweden who headed the inspection team, told the Associated Press that the report is complete but that it is for the secretary-general to decide when they will make the findings public.
"I know there are rumors about it coming out possibly soon," Marie Harf, a State Department spokeswoman, told reporters. "I think that - I'm confident, actually, that the United Nations report will reaffirm what we've long said."
It has been the contention of the United States and its allies that the government led by al-Assad was responsible for using the weapons. Syria, Russia and Iran have argued that the weapons were used by the opposition as a way to force the west to intervene on their behalf.
As Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov met in Geneva to try to iron out a plan which would have Russia seizing and destroying all of the chemical weapons owned by al-Assad's government the Syrian National Coalition that opposes Assad announced that they reject the Russian plan, according to CBS News.
"We ask that the international community not be content with withdrawing chemical weapons, which are a criminal instrument, but to hold the perpetrator accountable and prosecute him at the International Criminal Court," Gen. Salim Idriss, the head of SNC's military wing, said in an online video.
