Russia condemned as ‘chemical attack’ death toll reaches 75

World appears powerless to act

RUSSIA HAS been condemned at the UN Security Council in New York over the “chemical weapons attack” in northern Syria.

Moscow’s suggestions that civilians were poisoned by rebel weapons on the ground have been rejected.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, a rebel commander and a weapons expert all said evidence pointed to an attack by the Syrian government, Russia’s ally.

The news comes as it was revealed international donors have pledged £4.8bn in aid for Syria this year.

The death toll from the suspected chemical attack on the northern Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun has risen to 75, as activists and rescue workers continued to find more terrified survivors hiding in shelters near the site.

A Syrian opposition group said renewed air strikes hit the town a day after the attack, which the Trump administration and others have blamed on the government of President Bashar Assad, as well as his main patrons, Russia and Iran.

British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said the UK had seen nothing that would suggest that rebels “have the sort of chemical weapons that are consistent with the symptoms that we saw yesterday”.

A resolution which has been drafted by Britain, France, and the US stresses the Syrian government’s obligation to provide information about its air operations, including the names of those in command of any helicopter squadrons on the day of the attack.

Diplomats were also meeting

in Brussels for a major donors conference on the future of Syria and the region. Representatives from 70 countries were present.

Turkey set up a decontamination centre at a border crossing in the province of Hatay following the attack, where the victims are initially treated before being moved to hospitals.

Mr Johnson said “all the evidence” he had seen so far in the latest chemical weapons attack in Syria “suggests this was the Assad regime... (that) did it in the full knowledge that they were using illegal weapons in a barbaric attack on their own people”.

Syria’s government denied it carried out any chemical attack. But early on Wednesday, Russia, a major ally of the Syrian government, alleged a Syrian air strike hit a rebel arsenal, releasing the toxic agents.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 20 children and 17 women were among those killed.

Abu Hamdu, a senior member of the Syrian civil defence in Khan Sheikhoun, said his group has recorded 70 deaths.

Meanwhile, international donors have pledged £4.8bn to help conflict-torn Syria this year, a senior European Union official has confirmed. EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Christos Stylianides said donors from more than 70 countries meeting in Brussels had made a “collective pledge of $6bn for this year alone”.

A Tory peer has urged the Government to re-establish diplomatic relations with the Syrian regime. Conservative former MP Lord Cormack argued it would “make a great deal of sense” to reopen channels with Damascus given the UK was not in a position to end the conflict.

Meanwhile, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called for a peaceful resolution and said those responsible should answer for their crimes in the criminal courts.

AS ALWAYS, Britain’s response to the despicable nerve gas attack in Syria, just the latest slaughter of young innocents, could not have been more sincere. Priti Patel, the International Development Secretary, said “history will judge” the international community’s response, while Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, the co-host of a special summit at the EU, called for a unified humanitarian approach and political solution to this stain on the global conscience.

Wise words by both – but there’s a catch. Economic sanctions have been proven not to work, President Bashir Assad’s regime remains deaf to the world’s condemnation of such abhorrent acts, while there remains little appetite for Britain intensifying its military action after Parliament endorsed extended RAF air strikes to Islamic State targets.

With Downing Street insisting “nobody is talking” about an armed response to the latest atrocity, the civilised world appears to be running out of meaningful options as the death toll increases by the hour.

With Russia’s involvement in the conflict complicating matters still further, and the stance of President Donald Trump another ‘known unknown’ to paraphrase former US secretary of state Donald Rumsfeld, the need for international leadership – and dialogue – has never been greater or more urgent. Is there any diplomat remotely capable of bringing hope to the Syrians crying for help because they remain trapped in a hell-hole that they have to call home?