Syria ‘chemical’ attack
BEIRUT: International outrage is mounting over a suspected chemical attack that killed scores of civilians in a rebel-held town in northwest Syria on Tuesday morning. AFP’s correspondent in the town of Khan Sheikhun saw lifeless bodies lying at a field hospital, which was itself hit in air strikes hours after the attack. It remains unclear what kind of substance was used in the attack, but the World Health Organization said yesterday that some victims appeared to show signs of exposure to “nerve agents”. If confirmed, it would be one of the worst chemical attacks since Syria’s civil war began six years ago.
What happened?
Air strikes hit the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun around 7:00 am on Tuesday, and residents reported finding entire families “dead in their beds”. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights first reported that 58 civilians had died, but the monitoring group later updated the death toll to a total of 72, including 20 children and more than a dozen women. Another 160 were wounded, with local medics telling AFP they had treated cases of suffocation, convulsions, pinpoint pupils, and rapid pulses.
What was the aftermath?
Residents were rushed to clinics inside the town and wider province, and some victims were taken across the border for treatment in Turkey. Hours after the attack, as medics worked to treat the wounded in a hospital in Khan Sheikhun, two air strikes slammed into the facility and partially destroyed it. The gruesome footage emerging from the town was met with widespread shock, including in Brussels where world powers have gathered to raise funds to deal with Syria’s crisis.
Who was behind it?
Syria’s opposition has accused the government of Bashar al-Assad of carrying out the strike, and warned that it “calls into question” efforts to bring an end to the bloody conflict.
Rebel groups including Al-Qaeda’s former affiliate said on Tuesday they would take “revenge” against the regime and its backers, calling on allied fighters “to ignite the fronts” across the country. But Syria’s army “categorically” denied the claims, saying it had never used chemical weapons “any time, anywhere, and will not do so in the future”. Both the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria and the UN’s chemical arms watchdog said they were investigating the attack to determine whether chemical substances were used.
How has the world reacted?
Washington and London have pointed the finger at Assad, and European Union diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said his regime bore “primary responsibility” for the attack. Pope Francis yesterday called the attack an “unacceptable massacre”. But regime ally Moscow said the deaths were caused when a Syrian air strike hit a “terrorist warehouse” containing toxic materials.
Chemical weapons
Syria’s government officially joined the Chemical Weapons Convention and turned over its chemical arsenal in 2013, as part of a deal to avert US military action. That agreement came after hundreds of peopleup to 1,429 according to a US intelligence report-were killed in chemical weapons strikes allegedly carried out by Syrian troops near Damascus. But there have been repeated allegations of chemical weapons use by the government since, with a UN-led investigation pointing the finger at the regime for at least three chlorine attacks in 2014 and 2015. The Islamic State jihadist group was also found to have used mustard gas in a 2015 attack in Syria. — AFP