Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was probably not behind the order to deploy chemical weapons that killed over a thousand people last month.
German tabloid Bild am Sonntag cited unnamed sources from the German intelligence service.
Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), who said that a German surveillance ship in the Mediterranean intercepted radio messages that said Assad had blocked several requests by his military to use chemical weapons.
The intercepted communication suggests that Assad had not ordered the attacks, despite requests by commanders over the past four months, the paper said.