Probe: Sarin used in attack
THE HAGUE: An investigation by the international chemical weapons watchdog has confir med sarin nerve gas was used in a deadly April 4 attack on a Syrian town, the latest confirmation of chemical weapons use in Syria’s civil war.
The attack on Khan Sheikhoun in Syria’s Idlib province left more than 90 people dead, including women and children, and sparked outrage around the world as photos and video of the after math, including quivering children dying on camera, were widely broadcast.
“I strongly condemn this atrocity, which wholly contradicts the norms enshrined in the Chemical Weapons Convention,” Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) director-general Ahmet Uzumcu said. “The perpetrators of this horrific attack must be held accountable for their crimes.”
The investigation did not apportion blame. Its findings will be used by a joint UN-OPCW investigation team to assess who was responsible.
The OPCW scheduled a meeting of its executive council on Wednesday to discuss the findings.
The US State Department said the facts reflected “a despicable and highly dangerous record of chemical weapons use by the Assad regime”.
Syrian President Bashar Assad has denied using chemical weapons. His staunch ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin, said earlier this month that he believed the attack was “a provocation” staged “by people who wanted to blame him (Assad) for that”.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the report, which was not released in full, doesn’t back claims by the US and its allies that the sarin was dropped from aircraft.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said, while the report did not apportion blame, “the UK’s own assessment is that the Assad regime almost certainly carried out this abominable attack”.
Both the US and the OPCW were at pains to defend the probe’s methodology. Investigators did not visit the attack scene, deeming it dangerous, but analysed samples from victims and survivors, and interviewed witnesses. – AP