Experts blame Syria for chemical weapons attack

Experts from the UN and a chemical weapons watchdog are blaming the Syrian government for an attack in April using the nerve gas sarin that killed more than 90 people.

Their report’s key findings and conclusions, obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday, state that leaders of the expert body are “confident that the Syrian Arab Republic is responsible for the release of sarin at Khan Sheikhoun on April 4, 2017.”

The report by the experts supports the initial findings by the United States, France and Britain that a Syrian military plane dropped a bomb with sarin on the town.

Syria and Russia, its close ally, have denied any attack and strongly criticized the Joint Investigative Mechanism, known as the JIM, which was established by the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to determine responsibility for chemical weapons attacks in Syria.

The attack in Khan Sheikhoun sparked outrage around the world as photos and video of the aftermath, including quivering children dying on camera, were widely broadcast.

The United States blamed the Syrian military and launched a punitive strike days later on the Shayrat airbase, where it said the attack was launched.

The experts also determined that the Islamic State extremist group was responsible for an attack in Um Hosh in Aleppo on Sept. 16, 2016, using mustard gas.