[RealJustme]

The Obama administration said Monday it has "strong indications" chemical weapons were used in Syria earlier this month, and is investigating whether the Assad regime might have been responsible.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki discussed the allegations a day after French President Francois Hollande said France also had indications the regime is still using chemical weapons.

Bashar Assad's government last year agreed to ship chemical weapons out of his country following a sarin gas attack, as part of a deal to de-escalate tensions with the United States and its allies. President Obama had declared the use of chemical weapons a "red line," but backed off threats of military force following the agreement.

The latest attack in question occurred April 11 in the rebel-held village of Kfar Zeita.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the matter is "being investigated."

He said that once more information is gathered, including who is responsible, the administration can discuss "what reaction, if any" there would be from the international community. "

Carney said the new allegations are "of concern and Obama takes them very seriously."

Both sides in Syria's civil war blamed each other for the attack in Kfar Zeita.

Online videos posted by rebel activists from Kfar Zeita echoed earlier images that sparked a world outcry last year, showing pale-faced men, women and children gasping for breath at a field hospital.

The main Western-backed opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, said the poison gas attack hurt dozens of people, though it did not identify the gas used.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group that relies on a network of on-the-ground volunteers, said the gas attack happened during air raids that left heavy smoke over the area. It reported that people suffered from suffocation and breathing problems after the attack.

Carney and Psaki also slammed the Assad regime on Monday for an election scheduled for June, calling the plans a "parody of democracy."

So Assad double crossed Obama's fading pink line, but of note, Obama has told the international community he takes this new development very seriously and will put together a panel to investigate and then study the results at which time he will appoint a special committee to come up with possible solutions that will be further studied and possibly acted upon.