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of President Bashar al-Assad, according to senior administration officials.
The officials said they are moving toward the shipment of arms but emphasised that they are still pursuing political negotiation.

To that end, the administration has launched an effort to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin that the probable use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government — and the more direct outside intervention that could provoke — should lead him to reconsider his support of Assad.

But Obama, who spoke by telephone with Putin on Monday and is sending Secretary of State John Kerry to Moscow in the coming days, is likely to make a final decision on the supply of arms to the opposition within weeks, before a scheduled meeting with Putin in June, the officials said.

Confirmation that the Assad government has used chemical weapons, Obama said Tuesday, would mean that “there are some options that we might not otherwise exercise that we would strongly consider.”

At a news conference, he emphasised the need to “make sure I’ve got the facts. . . If we end up rushing to judgment without hard, effective evidence, we can find ourselves in a position where we can’t mobilise the international community to support” additional action.

Administration officials have made repeated reference to the George W. Bush administration’s inaccurate claims of weapons of mass destruction to justify its 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Yet even as Obama voiced caution in responding to what he has called the “red line” on chemical weapons, the senior officials described him as ready to move on what one described as the “left-hand side” of a broad spectrum that ranged from “arming the opposition to boots on the ground.”

“We’re clearly on an upward trajectory,” the senior official said. “We’ve moved over to assistance that has a direct military purpose.”

The officials did not specify what US equipment is under consideration, although the rebels have specifically requested anti-tank weapons and surface-to-air missiles. — washingtonpost.com.