WASHINGTON – The Syrian government may be developing new types of chemicalweapons, and U.S. President Donald Trump is prepared to again ordermilitary action against Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s forces if necessaryto deter chemical attacks, senior U.S. officials said on Thursday.

Assad’s government is believed to have kept part of its chemical weaponsstockpile despite a U.S.-Russian deal under which Damascus was supposed tohave handed over all those weapons for destruction in 2014, the officialssaid.

Assad’s forces have continued occasional use of chemical weapons in smalleramounts since a deadly attack last April that drew a U.S. missile strike ona Syrian air base, the officials told reporters in a briefing.

Characteristics of some of those recent attacks suggest that Syria may bedeveloping new weapons and methods for delivering poison chemicals,possibly to make it harder to trace their origin, the officials said,speaking on condition of anonymity. But they declined to provide specifics.- Agencies