Inspectors touring Syrian military sites have discovered trace amounts of banned chemicals. The nerve agents and toxins were supposed to have been removed completely after President Bashar Assad agreed to dismantle the arsenal in return for the United States staying its missile strikes.

The inspectors were touring a number of military bases controlled by Assad’s forces. At least three sites contained traces of the illegal chemicals.

The nerve agent sarin was found in artillery shells at two sites and was also found in the drains, according to an unnamed U.S. diplomat. Ricin was found at a research center as well.

The report is damning not only because illegal chemical weapons were discovered, but also because a great price was paid in order to supposedly remove the entire stockpile last year.

It was almost two years ago when Assad was caught utilizing chemical weapons. U.S. President Barack Obama said that the use of chemical weapons was a “red line” for U.S. intervention. When Assad was caught in the act, President Obama said he would conduct airstrikes at key government locations across the nation in retaliation. A last-minute deal put together by Russia gave the U.S. a way to back out.

In the deal, Assad promised to deliver all chemical weapon stockpiles for dilution in the Mediterranean Sea. The process began in September 2013 and was wrapped up within 11 months. The international community applauded the move as a decisive step toward ending the civil war.

The New York Times called the event “a rare foreign policy achievement for President Obama.”

The White House celebrated, but the danger is in the details. The U.S. was careful to state that it had destroyed Assad’s declared chemical weapons. That word “declared” is starkly obvious now that traces of more chemicals have been found.

Of course the trace amounts of the chemicals do not detail how large the remaining chemical arsenal is. The inspectors are set to ask Syrian officials about the chemicals on May 17. But words of these Syrian officials now have even less credibility than two years ago when they supposedly declared that all chemical weapons were disposed.

The timing of the latest chemical discovery comes in tandem with allegations of more chlorine bomb attacks by the Syrian regime. Due to its industrial uses, chlorine is not considered an illegal chemical. But Assad has weaponized the product, choking rebels and civilians alike in his continued campaign to crush the rebellion.

The international community—largely led by the United States—has attempted to divide Assad from his chemical weapons program. The aim has been to tackle the issues separately, first removing the chemical weapons then the man. But the two issues cannot be so easily detached.

Taking away the chemicals was merely tackling the effect and not the cause. Such has been America’s policy in Syria from the get-go. Even now, the slaughter of Syrian civilians continues. Chlorine and barrel bombs are still pounding residential areas used by rebels. The death toll is well over 200,000, but humanitarian groups gave up trying to keep an accurate gauge when the numbers roared over 100,000.

The latest discovery of chemical weapons shows that the U.S. was duped. Read our booklet History and Prophecy in the Middle East to see what the Bible predicts for this region of the world.