Foreign Secretary William Hague has said for the first time that the “atrocity” in Syria “was a chemical attack” carried out by Assad forces. Mr Hague said that the chances of the attack being a conspiracy by opposition forces was “vanishingly small” and that the only “plausible explanation” for the mass deaths was an attack by the regime. He said it was essential to get UN inspectors already in the country to the site outside Damascus and that “time was of the essence”. If inspectors were not allowed in, the evidence, he said, would deteriorate. Forces loyal to President Bashar al Assad have been carrying out air strikes on the area, which could already have considerably damaged any proof of the use of nerve gas. And Mr Hague warned the Assad