A front-page Times dispatch from Damascus reports, "the United States has signaled growing discomfort with the rising influence of radical Islamists on the battlefield, and it remains unwilling to arm the rebels or to consider stepping in more forcefully without conclusive evidence that the Syrian government used chemical weapons, as some Israeli officials assert."
Funny, a Times editorial today uses different language to describe the chemical weapons allegation. The editorial refers to "the charges by Israel, Britain and France." Similarly, a Times news article published last week reported, "Britain and France have written separately to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations that there is credible information suggesting Syria's government has used chemical weapons in the civil war on multiple occasions since last December, diplomats said Thursday."
By describing the chemical weapons allegation as being made by "some Israeli officials" rather than by "Israel, Britain, and France," today's front-page news article makes the allegation sound more trivial, and less substantial, than it is.