Sarin gas use in Syria proved

Amsterdam – The world’s chemical weapons watchdog said the banned nerve agent, sarin, was used in an attack in northern Syria in April that killed dozens of people, a report from a fact-finding team showed this week.

The report was circulated to members of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, but was not made public.

The attack on April 4 in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province was the most deadly in Syria’s civil war in more than three years. It prompted a US missile strike against a Syrian air base which Washington said was used to launch the strike.

After interviewing witnesses and examining samples, a fact-finding mission of the OPCW concluded that “a large number of people, some of whom died, were exposed to sarin or a sarin-like substance”.

“Now that we know the undeniable truth, we look forward to an independent investigation to confirm exactly who was responsible for these brutal attacks so we can find justice for the victims,” US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said on Thursday.

A joint United Nations and OPCW investigation, known as JIM, can now look at the incident to determine who is to blame, she said.

JIM has found Syrian government forces were responsible for three chlorine gas attacks in 2014 and 2015 and that Islamic State militants used mustard gas.

Western intelligence agencies blamed the government of Bashar al-Assad for the April chemical attack. Syrian officials have repeatedly denied using banned toxins in the conflict. The mission was unable to visit the site due to security concerns, the head of the OPCW was said to have decided.

Syria joined the chemicals weapons convention in 2013 under a Russian-US agreement, averting military intervention under then US president Barack Obama.

The US said on Wednesday the Syrian government appeared to have heeded a warning this week from Washington not to carry out a chemical weapons attack.

Russia, the Syrian government’s main backer in the war, warned it would respond if the US took pre-emptive measures against Syrian forces after Washington said on Monday it appeared Syria was preparing for a chemical weapons attack. – Reuters