France says Sarin gas used several times in Syria

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Tuesday that tests on chemical samples from Syria make it certain that Sarin was used, adding “all options” are on the table.

“We have no doubt that the gas is being used.. the laboratory tests are clear,” he said on television after French laboratory tests on blood and hair samples from Syria pointed to the use of Sarin gas.

“There is no doubt that the regime and its accomplices” are using them, he added.

“A line has been indisputably breached. We will hold talks with our partners on what we must do and all options are on the table,” to decide “whether to react, including in an armed manner,” Fabius said.

“But we are not there yet,” Fabius said, referring to armed intervention.

“We must react but at the same time we must not block an eventual peace conference,” he said, referring to U.S.- and Russia-backed efforts to get the rebels to join peace talks in Geneva.

The White House meanwhile said it needed more evidence before declaring formally that Sarin gas has been used in Syria.

“We need to expand the evidence we have ... before we make any decision,” spokesman Jay Carney said, alluding to President Barack Obama’s stated position that use of the deadly nerve agent would be a “game-changer” for Washington.

White House said it is highly skeptical of claims that opposition forces in Syria used chemical weapons.

United Nations investigators said on Tuesday they had” reasonable grounds” to believe that limited amounts of chemical weapons had been used in Syria in a conflict where brutality was now a tactic of war.