Syria AWFUL attack: Government accused of using chlorine

A third toxic gas attack was carried out by Syrian government forces in the north-western Idlib area of Syria in March a year ago, an international inquiry is reported to have reasoned.

Investigators are said to have discovered that choppers dropped barrel bombs comprising chlorine gas, a prohibited weapon.

An August report blamed the authorities for two other chlorine strikes.

The Syrian government has not yet commented on the latest allegations.

Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons under the conditions of an agreement negotiated between Washington and Moscow.

The Security Council backed the agreement up with a resolution that stipulated that under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, it’d inflict measures in the event of non-compliance.

The most recent findings – the fourth report in the 13-month-long inquiry by the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons – accused government forces of carrying the toxic gas strike in Qmenas out on 16 March 2015.

The report submitted on Friday accused the Syrian government forces of using helicopters to drop.

It said that the helicopter flights could have originated from two bases where the 255 and 253 squadrons, part of the 63rd chopper brigade, were based.

Navy helicopters from 618 squadron were also located at among the bases.

But the inquiry said that it “couldn’t verify the names of the individuals who had command and control of the helicopter squadrons at the time”.

It urged that those “with successful control in the military units… must be held responsible”.

The use of chlorine as a weapon is prohibited under the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, which Syria joined in 2013.

The US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, has described using chemical weapons as “barbaric” and called for “all states to support powerful and swift actions”.