The United Nations report on the 21 August chemical weapon attack on civilians outside Damascus, Syria confirms the use of Sarin gas.  The UN does not assign blame, but the US, UK, and France have seized upon it to blame the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

“This is the most significant confirmed use of chemical weapons against civilians since Saddam Hussein used them in Halabja (Iraq) in 1988,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, “The international community has pledged to prevent any such horror from recurring, yet it has happened again.”

Although Ban said it was a war crime, the report did not directly point to Bashar al-Assad as the culprit.  But there are technical details that the US, UK, and France say could only have made the atrocity the work of Assad’s regime.

“In particular,” said the report by chief UN investigator Ake Sellstrom of Sweden, “the environmental, chemical and medical samples we have collected provide clear and convincing evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent sarin were used."

The rebels apparently have no such delivery system.

The report also cites the weather conditions in the targeted rebel-held area near Damascus during the early morning hours of August 21.  Cooler air moves down to the ground, trapping the gas close to where people breathe and ensuring that as many people as possible were injured or killed.