Data on chemical arms use by Syria's Assad 'fabricated'

A senior pro-Kremlin Russian lawmaker said on Friday that information on the use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces was fabricated and suggested the United States would use it to justify intervention in the conflict.

A US official said on Thursday that President Barack Obama has authorized sending U.S. weapons to Syrian rebels for the first time, after the White House said it has proof the Syrian government had used chemical weapons against opposition forces.

"Information about the use by Assad of chemical weapons has been fabricated in the same place as the lies about (Saddam) Hussein's weapons of mass destruction," Alexei Pushkov, head of the foreign policy committee in the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, said on Twitter. "Obama is taking the same path as George Bush."

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