Netanyahu cannot confirm report of Syrian chemical arms use

                      
Heavy fighting is ongoing on Tuesday in the strategic town of Qusair where troops and pro-government Shiite gunmen backed by Lebanon's Hezbollah group has been advancing for days.                                              
A government official in the provincial capital of Homs said troops were making progress, adding that Qusair "will be safe soon." He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the military's progress.                                                    

On another note, an association of Middle Eastern Christians said that the two Orthodox bishops Boulos Yazigi and John Ibrahim who were kidnapped in northern Syria have been released.                         

In this context, Agence France Presse quoted sources as saying that the two bishops  were already at Saint Elias cathedral in Aleppo.                     

Earlier, Pope Francis called for the rapid release of two bishops kidnapped by gunmen in Syria while on a humanitarian mission.                                   

Bishop Boulos Yazigi of the Greek Orthodox Church and John Ibrahim of the Assyrian Orthodox Church were abducted as they traveled from the Turkish border to the city of Aleppo on Monday. Their driver was killed. It was not immediately clear who was responsible.                                                 

This as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he could not confirm comments by the Israeli military's top intelligence analyst that Syrian government forces had used chemical weapons, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said.                     

"I talked to Prime Minister Netanyahu this morning. I think it is fair for me to say that he was not in a position to confirm that in the conversation that I had," Kerry told a news conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels. "I don't know yet what the facts are."                    

Kerry had been asked about comments by Brigadier-General Itai Brun, an Israeli intelligence analyst, at a Tel Aviv security conference that Syrian forces had used chemical weapons, probably nerve gas, in their fight against rebels.