Ambassador: No evidence of chemical use in Syria

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to Syria says the Obama administration has no evidence so far to support claims of chemical weapon use but is looking carefully at the conflicting reports.

Robert Ford made the comments Tuesday at a House hearing, one day after President Bashar Assad accused U.S.-backed rebels of using such weapons in Aleppo province.

The Obama administration disputed that claim, and a U.S. official said there was no evidence that either Assad forces or the opposition had used chemical weapons in an attack in northern Syria.

Ford said that an increasingly besieged Assad regime might be tempted to use the weapons.

The chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee said there was a "high probability" a chemical agent was deployed.