A victim of the alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria. Photo: Screenshot.

The United States’ shift in tone towards Syria in recent days, coming in response to a chemical weapons attack in the country, carried out by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad who are battling anti-regime rebels, can be attributed much in part to Israeli intelligence, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

According to the paper’s national correspondent, Adam Entous, officials say that Israel was able to provide intelligence—later verified by the CIA—directly from the Syrian army unit which controls chemical weapons in the country, and reports directly to Assad. According to Entous, Israel was able to show that the unit had transferred a certain type of chemical weapon and rockets to the area later attacked, killing scores of civilians.

According to Entous, the U.S. administration’s position on whether Syria had, in fact, used chemical weapons in last week’s attack was swayed considerably over the weekend by the new information.