Claims by Syrian rebels that the Assad regime had used chemical weapons on multiple occasions in recent weeks lacked evidence, Minister for Strategic Affairs Moshe Ya'alon said Tuesday.
Rebel sources said a gas was used by Assad's forces in Homs on Monday, resulting in seven deaths and several serious injuries in a rebel-controlled neighborhood of the Syrian city.
On Tuesday, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army said the regime had used deadly chemical weapons in no less than 18 attacks recently.
The reports were accompanied by photographs of injured people in hospital from Monday's clashes, and Arabic media said some of the injured suffered from difficulties in breathing, severe nausea, and loss of muscle control.
But Ya'alon, who is also Vice Prime Minister, said that the claims lacked corroboration."We have seen reports from the opposition. It is not the first time. The opposition has an interest in drawing in international military intervention," he told Army Radio.
"As things stand now, we do not have any confirmation or proof that [chemical weapons] have already been used, but we are definitely following events with concern," he said.
Responding to the images of the wounded, Yaalon said: "I'm not sure that what we're seeing in the photos is the result of the use of chemical weapons. It could be other things."
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights gathered activist accounts on Sunday of what they said was a poison gas attack in the city of Homs.
The Observatory, a British-based group with a network of activists across Syria, said those accounts spoke of six rebel fighters who died after inhaling smoke on the front line of Homs's urban battleground.
It said it could not confirm that poison gas had been used and called for an investigation.
Earlier this month, the Syrian deputy foreign minister, Feisal Mekdad, told Sky News he "did not know" if Syria possessed chemical weapons.
Either way, he vowed, they would never be used against Syrian civilians.
In July, Ahmad Slash, a Syrian member of parliament and deputy chairman of the foreign affairs committee, told Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV, "These biological and chemical weapons are intended for a confrontation with the country's enemies."
He added, "We have advanced weapons. Why lie to the people? We have them. That is what's known as the balance of power. You have nuclear weapons, and we have advanced biological weapons. We counter might with might, but we're keeping this for the end."
On Sunday, senior Israeli defense official Amos Gilad said Syria's chemical weapons were still secure despite the fact that Assad had lost control of parts of the country.