The horror of chemical weapons strikes again in Syria. At least 60 people, including 11 children, died in a shelling launched Tuesday by Assad's forces on Khan Sheikhun, a Syrian city in the northwestern province of Idlib, under rebel control. According to the testimonies of activists, after the first offensive, a field hospital where victims were treated was hit by another raid.
The attack was made with prohibited weapons: initially there was talk of chlorine bombs, then instead it emerged that it would have been gas sarin. In any case, both substances are banned internationally and accusations rain down on the Syrian dictator from all over the world war crimes.
The situation puts Assad's ally Russia in difficulty. It is no coincidence that General Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Moscow Defense Ministry, provided a different reconstruction: according to him, the Syrian city was exposed to toxic agents from a rebel arsenal hit by a Syrian air raid.
The presidents of Türkiye and Russia, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin, they discussed in a phone call about the raid. This was reported by presidential sources in Ankara, according to whom "Erdogan said that such an inhumane attack is unacceptable". The two leaders also reaffirmed the importance of maintaining the truce in Syria and strengthening counter-terrorism cooperation.
on your part, the general command of the Syrian armed forces "categorically denies" that he carried out a chemical attack on Khan Sheikhun. This can be read in a statement released by the Sana government agency. The armed forces "have not and will never use these materials in any place or time", the note continues, which states that the same general command "holds terrorist groups responsible for the use of chemical and toxic substances and those who are behind them.”
But the United States believes that in the chemical attack in Syria "sarin was used" and that "almost certainly" the bombing "was carried out by Assad's forces". This was reported by the authoritative pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al Awsat. And the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, said that Russia and Iran bear "great moral responsibility" for the deaths in Syria following the attack with chemical weapons.
The American president Donald Trump, in a note released by the White House, argued that "the atrocious actions of the Assad regime are a consequence of the weakness of the past Obama administration", explaining that in 2012 the former president "announced that he would create a red line against chemical weapons, but then he did nothing".
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, pointed the finger at the regime of Bashar al-Assad: "Today the news is terrible," said Mogherini speaking to the media in Brussels on the sidelines of the EU-UN conference. “We Europeans believe that accountability matters, so those who have committed war crimes must be held accountable,” he continued.
France e Britain they called for an "urgent" meeting of the UN security council, which will take place today. “The news of a chemical attack against unarmed civilians in Syria and of bombings on the hospitals where the wounded were hospitalized are shocking – said Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano -. Italy will be at the forefront of the UN Security Council in the emergency meeting, requested by France and the UK, and tomorrow at the Brussels Conference on Syria, in condemning the use of weapons of mass destruction against the Syrian population and in strongly requesting that those responsible for this crime against humanity be identified”.
In a note, Save The Children reports: "The doctors of one of the clinics managed by our partner Syrian Relief told us that they had received three children under the age of 6, barely conscious, struggling to breathe, with a runny nose and contracted pupils. Doctors say these symptoms are consistent with the use of nerve agents, such as sarin."
