Kerry blames UK for Obama’s refusal to bomb Syria in 2013

US Secretary of State John Kerry has blamed Britain for President Barack Obama’s failure to follow through on his threat to use military force against the Syrian government more than three years ago.

In a news conference meant to promote his four years as the top US diplomat, Kerry said Obama did not backtrack on his promise to bomb the Syrian government if it ever used chemical weapons.

In 2012, Obama said any use or movement of chemical weapons in Syria would cross a “red line” and draw a US military response.

The president came under intense pressure to respond after the foreign-backed militants accused President Bashar al-Assad’s government of launching a chemical attack in the suburbs of Damascus on August 21, 2013.

Damascus strongly rejected the accusations, saying the Ghouta attack was carried out by the militants themselves as a false-flag operation.

“The president of the United States of America, Barack Obama, did decide to use force and he announced his decision publicly and he said we’re going to act, we’re going to do what we need to do to respond to this blatant violation of international law and of warnings and of the red line he had chosen,” Kerry said on Thursday.