Assad regime responsible for sarin gas attack, says UN

THE forces of Bashar al-assad, the Syrian president, are responsible for a deadly sarin gas attack on the rebelheld town of Khan Sheikhun that killed scores of people, a UN investigative panel said last night.

A panel from the joint Un-organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said in a much-awaited report that “sarin was delivered via an aerial bomb dropped by an plane”.

The panel “is confident that the Syrian Arab Republic is responsible for the release of sarin at Khan Sheikhun on Apr 4 2017”, said the confidential report to the UN Security Council obtained by AFP. More than 87 people died in the nerve gas attack on the town in Syria’s north-western Idlib province.

Boris Johnson last night lashed out at Russia for “covering up” for the Syrian government over its use of chemical weapons. The Foreign Secretary accused Moscow of undermining efforts to prevent the use of the banned weapons after consistently backing up “abhorrent ally” Assad.

Images from the aftermath of the attack drew global outrage and prompted the US to fire cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase from which the West says the assault was launched. The panel also found that Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants used mustard gas in an attack on the town of Um Hosh in northern Aleppo region last year.

Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the UN, welcomed the findings and said the security council must send a “clear message” that the use of chemical weapons will not be tolerated.