Weapons watchdog finds sarin used in attack in Syria

Nerve gas used in April incident that killed more than 90.

An investigation by the inter- national chemical weapons watchdog confirmed that sarin nerve gas was used in a deadly April 4 attack on a Syrian town, but a report released Friday stopped short of saying who was responsible.

The attack on Khan Sheik- houn in Syria’s Idlib province killed more than 90 peo- ple, including women and children. It sparked outrage around the world as pho- tos and video of the after- math, including quivering children dying on camera, were widely broadcast.

“I strongly condemn this atrocity, which wholly con- tradicts the norms enshrined in the Chemical Weapons Convention,” Organization for the Prohibition of Chem- ical Weapons Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu said in a statement. “The perpetrators of this horrific attack must be held accountable for their crimes.”

The U.S. blamed the Syrian military for the attack and launched a punitive strike days later. Syrian President Bashar Assad has denied using chemical weapons.

A Syrian lawmaker ques- tioned t he results a nd described the report as part of a campaign of “political exploitation” against Syria.

The findings of the investigation released Friday will be used by a joint U.N.-OPCW investigation team working to assess who was responsible for the attack. The team is expected to issue its next report around Octo- ber. The OPCW has scheduled a Wednesday meeting of its executive council to discuss the matter.

The U.S. State Department said in a statement Thursday night, after the report was circulated to OPCW mem- bers, that “the facts reflect a despicable and highly dangerous record of chemical weapons use by the Assad regime.” Only some details of the report were released to the public.

Assad ally Russian President Vladimir Putin said in June that he believed the attack was “a provocation” staged “by people who wanted to blame” Assad.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the report doesn’t back claims by the U.S. and its allies that the sarin was dropped from aircraft.

“They don’t know how the sarin ended up there, yet tensions have been escalating for all these months,” Lavrov said in Moscow.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said that while the report did not apportion blame, “the U.K.’s own assessment is that the Assad regime almost certainly carried out this abominable attack.”

Both the U.S. and the OPCW defended the probe’s methodology. Investigators did not visit the scene of the attack, deeming it too dangerous, but analyzed samples from victims and survivors as well as interviewing witnesses.