The US military and intelligence community has intercepted communications featuring Syrian military and chemical experts talking about preparations for the sarin attack in Idlib last week, CNN reported with reference to a senior US official.
The intercepts were part of an immediate review of all intelligence in the hours after the attack to confirm responsibility for the use of chemical weapons in an attack. US officials have said that there is "no doubt" that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is responsible for the attack.
The official said that Washington did not know prior to the attack it was going to happen, as the US scoops up such a large volume of communications intercepts in areas like Syria and Iraq, the material often is not processed unless there is a particular event that requires analysts to go back and look for supporting intelligence material.
The channel reported that so far there are no intelligence intercepts that have been found directly confirming that Russian military or intelligence officials communicated about the attack.
