Obama's "Red Line" Crossed Again in Syria?

“We struck a deal where we got 100 percent of the chemical weapons out,” said Secretary of State Kerry about Syria almost two years ago.

Except that it isn’t so. The Assad regime has used another form of chemical weapons time after time: chlorine.

And now, it has returned to using sarin gas. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported this today:

A little over a week ago, Syria’s embattled Assad regime used chemical arms against ISIS east of Damascus, despite the 2013 agreement to dismantle the regime’s chemical weapons. The regime apparently decided to use the lethal gas sarin after ISIS fighters attacked two Syrian air force bases considered vital military assets.

The questions presents itself: what do Obama and Kerry plan to do about it? This use of sarin gas, if confirmed, gives the lie to the claim that all the chemical weapons and poison gas was removed, and reminds us once again of the “red line” fiasco. The lesson it teaches enemies and allies alike is that the threats and pledges of the president are not to be taken very seriously. Far worse, of course, the lesson for other regimes may be that using chemical weapons is possible–and will not be punished. This too may become part of the Obama foreign policy legacy.

So is it true that sarin was used, as Haaretz reported? Has the administration moved fast to find out, or does it not wish to know?

This article originally appeared at the Council on Foreign Relations Blog.