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{{Campaignbox Syrian Civil War}}
{{Campaignbox Syrian Civil War}}


The '''Khan Shaykhun chemical attack''' took place on 4 April 2017 on the town of [[Khan Shaykhun]] in the [[Idlib Governorate]] of [[Syria]]. At the time of the attack, the town was under the control of [[Tahrir al-Sham]],<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.syriahr.com/2017/02/14/%d8%a7%d8%b4%d8%aa%d8%a8%d8%a7%d9%83%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d9%87%d9%8a%d8%a6%d8%a9-%d8%aa%d8%ad%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b4%d8%a7%d9%85-%d9%88%d8%aa%d9%86%d8%b8%d9%8a%d9%85-%d8%ac%d9%86%d8%af-%d8%a7/|title=اشتباكات هيئة تحرير الشام وتنظيم جند الأقصى تخلف نحو 70 قتيل بين الطرفين… والأخير يخسر 9 بلدات وقرى خلال الـ 48 ساعة الفائتة|last=SOHRkhan|date=14 February 2017|publisher=Syrian Observatory for Human Rights|accessdate=5 April 2017}}</ref><ref name="defect to ISIS">{{cite web|url=https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/2000-radical-rebels-defect-isis-following-intra-rebel-deal/|title=Over 2,000 radical rebels defect to ISIS following intra-rebel deal|first=Izat|last=Charkatli|date=23 February 2017}}</ref><ref name="leaves for Raqqa">{{cite web|url=http://syriadirect.org/news/search-for-the-dead-begins-in-idlib-after-islamic-state-linked-brigade-leaves-for-raqqa/|title=Search for the dead begins in Idlib after Islamic State-linked brigade leaves for Raqqa |date=22 February 2017 |publisher=Syria Direct |accessdate=5 April 2017}}</ref><ref name="Jund al-Aqsa besieged">{{cite web|url=https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/jund-al-aqsa-completely-besieged-rival-rebel-factions-around-two-towns-idlib/|title=Jund al-Aqsa completely besieged by rival rebel factions around two towns in Idlib|author=Chris Tomson|work=[[al-Masdar News]]|date=16 February 2017}}</ref> formerly known as the [[al-Nusra Front]].<ref name="BBC">"[http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-38934206 Tahrir al-Sham: Al-Qaeda's latest incarnation in Syria]". BBC News. 28 February 2017</ref><ref>"[http://www.dw.com/en/death-toll-rises-in-syria-gas-attack/a-38282661 Death toll rises in Syria 'gas attack']". [[Deutsche Welle]]. 4 April 2017.</ref> The town was struck by a heavy [[airstrike]] by government forces followed by massive civilian chemical poisoning,<ref name=bbc1/> where witnesses noted victims foaming at the mouth, and one who video-recorded said that the 4th bomb did not explode but created white smoke which spread across the town.<ref name="Nat">{{cite news |date= 6 April 2017 |title= Witness of Syria chemical attack gives graphic account as death toll climbs |website= www.thenational.ae |url= http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/witness-of-syria-chemical-attack-gives-graphic-account-as-death-toll-climbs |accessdate= 10 April 2017 |quote= The warplane dropped three conventional explosive bombs – and a fourth that made little sound on impact but produced a cloud of smoke. }}</ref> The release of the toxic gas, likely [[sarin]], killed at least 74 people and injured more than 557, according to the Idlib health authority.<ref name=major/> If confirmed, the attack would become the deadliest [[use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war]] since the [[Ghouta chemical attack]] in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2017/04/04/Syria-toxic-gas-attack-kills-civilians-in-Idlib-province.html|title=Syria 'toxic gas' attack kills 100 in Idlib province|work=Al-Arabiya & AFP|date=4 April 2017}}</ref>
The '''Khan Shaykhun chemical attack''' took place on 4 April 2017 on the town of [[Khan Shaykhun]] in the [[Idlib Governorate]] of [[Syria]]. At the time of the attack, the town was under the control of [[Tahrir al-Sham]],<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.syriahr.com/2017/02/14/%d8%a7%d8%b4%d8%aa%d8%a8%d8%a7%d9%83%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d9%87%d9%8a%d8%a6%d8%a9-%d8%aa%d8%ad%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b4%d8%a7%d9%85-%d9%88%d8%aa%d9%86%d8%b8%d9%8a%d9%85-%d8%ac%d9%86%d8%af-%d8%a7/|title=اشتباكات هيئة تحرير الشام وتنظيم جند الأقصى تخلف نحو 70 قتيل بين الطرفين… والأخير يخسر 9 بلدات وقرى خلال الـ 48 ساعة الفائتة|last=SOHRkhan|date=14 February 2017|publisher=Syrian Observatory for Human Rights|accessdate=5 April 2017}}</ref><ref name="defect to ISIS">{{cite web|url=https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/2000-radical-rebels-defect-isis-following-intra-rebel-deal/|title=Over 2,000 radical rebels defect to ISIS following intra-rebel deal|first=Izat|last=Charkatli|date=23 February 2017}}</ref><ref name="leaves for Raqqa">{{cite web|url=http://syriadirect.org/news/search-for-the-dead-begins-in-idlib-after-islamic-state-linked-brigade-leaves-for-raqqa/|title=Search for the dead begins in Idlib after Islamic State-linked brigade leaves for Raqqa |date=22 February 2017 |publisher=Syria Direct |accessdate=5 April 2017}}</ref><ref name="Jund al-Aqsa besieged">{{cite web|url=https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/jund-al-aqsa-completely-besieged-rival-rebel-factions-around-two-towns-idlib/|title=Jund al-Aqsa completely besieged by rival rebel factions around two towns in Idlib|author=Chris Tomson|work=[[al-Masdar News]]|date=16 February 2017}}</ref> formerly known as the [[al-Nusra Front]].<ref name="BBC">"[http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-38934206 Tahrir al-Sham: Al-Qaeda's latest incarnation in Syria]". BBC News. 28 February 2017</ref><ref>"[http://www.dw.com/en/death-toll-rises-in-syria-gas-attack/a-38282661 Death toll rises in Syria 'gas attack']". [[Deutsche Welle]]. 4 April 2017.</ref> The town was struck by a heavy [[airstrike]] by [[Assad government|government forces]] followed by massive civilian chemical poisoning,<ref name=bbc1/> where witnesses noted victims foaming at the mouth, and one who video-recorded said that the 4th bomb did not explode but created white smoke which spread across the town.<ref name="Nat">{{cite news |date= 6 April 2017 |title= Witness of Syria chemical attack gives graphic account as death toll climbs |website= www.thenational.ae |url= http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/witness-of-syria-chemical-attack-gives-graphic-account-as-death-toll-climbs |accessdate= 10 April 2017 |quote= The warplane dropped three conventional explosive bombs – and a fourth that made little sound on impact but produced a cloud of smoke. }}</ref> The release of the toxic gas, likely [[sarin]], killed at least 74 people and injured more than 557, according to the Idlib health authority.<ref name=major/> If confirmed, the attack would become the deadliest [[use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war]] since the [[Ghouta chemical attack]] in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2017/04/04/Syria-toxic-gas-attack-kills-civilians-in-Idlib-province.html|title=Syria 'toxic gas' attack kills 100 in Idlib province|work=Al-Arabiya & AFP|date=4 April 2017}}</ref>


The President of the United States, [[Donald Trump]], as well as the [[UK Foreign Secretary]], [[Boris Johnson]], blamed the attack on the forces of [[Syrian President]] [[Bashar Assad]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/05/politics/trump-syria-comments-response/index.html|title=Trump: 'I now have responsibility' when it comes to Syria|author=Theodore Schleifer and Dan Merica|publisher=CNN|accessdate=5 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39500319|title=Syria chemical 'attack': Russia faces fury at UN Security Council|date=5 April 2017|accessdate=5 April 2017|publisher=BBC}}</ref> The Russian Defense Ministry said Syrian aircraft did conduct an airstrike on a warehouse containing ammunition and equipment belonging to rebels near Khan Shaykhun, and suggested the warehouse "may have contained a rebel chemical arms stockpile".<ref name=ThePipedreamExcuse>{{cite news|url=https://sputniknews.com/politics/201704091052469244-us-syria-chemical-weapons-war-pretext/|title='Chemical Weapons': The Pipedream Excuse Used in Syria by Two US Administrations|date=9 April 2017|publisher=Sputnik News}}</ref> Kareem Shaheen, the first western journalist to visit the town after the attack, looked at the warehouse that Russia said manufactured chemical weapons but found nothing but empty grain silos, dust and rubble. The Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem later said that "the first reports of the chemical attack appeared several hours before the government airstrike, indicating that the chemical attack may have been a cruel and cynical 'false flag' operation."<ref name=ThePipedreamExcuse/> In response, on 7 April, the United States [[2017 Shayrat strike|launched 59 cruise missiles]] at [[Shayrat Air Base]], which [[U.S. intelligence]] believed was the source of the attack.<ref name=BBC3/><ref>[https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:YHu_hOpfa_0J:https://www.afp.com/en/news/826/us-strikes-syrian-base-what-we-know+&cd=10&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us US strikes on Syrian base: what we know] – AFP. Retrieved 8 April 2017.</ref>
The President of the United States, [[Donald Trump]], as well as the [[UK Foreign Secretary]], [[Boris Johnson]], blamed the attack on the forces of [[Syrian President]] [[Bashar Assad]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/05/politics/trump-syria-comments-response/index.html|title=Trump: 'I now have responsibility' when it comes to Syria|author=Theodore Schleifer and Dan Merica|publisher=CNN|accessdate=5 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39500319|title=Syria chemical 'attack': Russia faces fury at UN Security Council|date=5 April 2017|accessdate=5 April 2017|publisher=BBC}}</ref> The Russian Defense Ministry said Syrian aircraft did conduct an airstrike on a warehouse containing ammunition and equipment belonging to rebels near Khan Shaykhun, and suggested the warehouse "may have contained a rebel chemical arms stockpile".<ref name=ThePipedreamExcuse>{{cite news|url=https://sputniknews.com/politics/201704091052469244-us-syria-chemical-weapons-war-pretext/|title='Chemical Weapons': The Pipedream Excuse Used in Syria by Two US Administrations|date=9 April 2017|publisher=Sputnik News}}</ref> Kareem Shaheen, the first western journalist to visit the town after the attack, looked at the warehouse that Russia said manufactured chemical weapons but found nothing but empty grain silos, dust and rubble. [[Assad government]] denied that it used any chemical weapons in the air strike.
In response, on 7 April, the United States [[2017 Shayrat strike|launched 59 cruise missiles]] at [[Shayrat Air Base]], which [[U.S. intelligence]] believed was the source of the attack.<ref name=BBC3/><ref>[https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:YHu_hOpfa_0J:https://www.afp.com/en/news/826/us-strikes-syrian-base-what-we-know+&cd=10&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us US strikes on Syrian base: what we know] – AFP. Retrieved 8 April 2017.</ref>


On 8 April, the town was attacked again by government forces, resulting in one death.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/08/middleeast/syria-strikes-russia-donald-trump/index.html|title=Syria strikes: Site of chemical attack hit again|first=Euan McKirdy, Jason Hanna and Barbara Starr|last=CNN|publisher=}}</ref>
On 8 April, the town was attacked again by government forces, resulting in one death.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/08/middleeast/syria-strikes-russia-donald-trump/index.html|title=Syria strikes: Site of chemical attack hit again|first=Euan McKirdy, Jason Hanna and Barbara Starr|last=CNN|publisher=}}</ref>

Revision as of 15:33, 11 April 2017

2017 Khan Shaykhun chemical attack
Part of the Syrian Civil War
TypeAirstrike, chemical attack (disputed; unidentified chemical, with sarin gas suspected)
Location
Khan Shaykhun, Idlib Governorate, Syria

35°26′20″N 36°39′4″E / 35.43889°N 36.65111°E / 35.43889; 36.65111
Date4 April 2017
06:30 EEST[1] (UTC+03:00)
Executed byDisputed
Casualties74–100+[2] killed
300–557+[2][3] injured
Khan Shaykhun is located in Syria
Khan Shaykhun
Khan Shaykhun
Location of Khan Shaykhun within Syria

The Khan Shaykhun chemical attack took place on 4 April 2017 on the town of Khan Shaykhun in the Idlib Governorate of Syria. At the time of the attack, the town was under the control of Tahrir al-Sham,[4][5][6][7] formerly known as the al-Nusra Front.[8][9] The town was struck by a heavy airstrike by government forces followed by massive civilian chemical poisoning,[3] where witnesses noted victims foaming at the mouth, and one who video-recorded said that the 4th bomb did not explode but created white smoke which spread across the town.[10] The release of the toxic gas, likely sarin, killed at least 74 people and injured more than 557, according to the Idlib health authority.[2] If confirmed, the attack would become the deadliest use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war since the Ghouta chemical attack in 2013.[11]

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, as well as the UK Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, blamed the attack on the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad.[12][13] The Russian Defense Ministry said Syrian aircraft did conduct an airstrike on a warehouse containing ammunition and equipment belonging to rebels near Khan Shaykhun, and suggested the warehouse "may have contained a rebel chemical arms stockpile".[14] Kareem Shaheen, the first western journalist to visit the town after the attack, looked at the warehouse that Russia said manufactured chemical weapons but found nothing but empty grain silos, dust and rubble. Assad government denied that it used any chemical weapons in the air strike.

In response, on 7 April, the United States launched 59 cruise missiles at Shayrat Air Base, which U.S. intelligence believed was the source of the attack.[15][16]

On 8 April, the town was attacked again by government forces, resulting in one death.[17]

Background

Main articles: Use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war and Destruction of Syria's chemical weapons

Use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Civil War has been confirmed by the local sources in Syria and by the United Nations. Deadly attacks by chemical weapons during the war include the Ghouta attack in the suburbs of Damascus in August 2013 and the Khan al-Assal attack in the suburbs of Aleppo in March 2013. While no party took responsibility for the chemical attacks, a U.N. fact-finding mission and a UNHRC Commission of Inquiry have both investigated the attacks.

The U.N. mission found likely use of the nerve agent sarin in the case of Khan al-Asal (19 March 2013), Saraqib (29 April 2013), Ghouta (21 August 2013), Jobar (24 August 2013) and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya (25 August 2013). The UNHRC commission later confirmed the use of sarin in the Khan al-Asal, Saraqib and Ghouta attacks, but did not mention the Jobar and the Ashrafiyat Sahnaya attacks. The UNHRC commission also found that the sarin used in the Khan al-Asal attack bore "the same unique hallmarks" as the sarin used in the Ghouta attack and indicated that the perpetrators likely had access to chemicals from the Syrian Army's stockpile. Those attacks prompted the international community to pressure disarmament of the Syrian Armed Forces from chemical weapons, which was executed during 2014. Despite the disarmament process, dozens of incidents with suspected use of chemical weapons followed throughout Syria.

In August 2016, a United Nations report explicitly blamed the Syrian military of Bashar al-Assad for dropping chemical weapons on the towns of Talmenes on 21 April 2014 and Sarmin on 16 March 2015.[18][19] Several other attacks have been alleged, reported and/or investigated. In December 2016, at least 53 people were killed in an alleged chemical weapons attack in ISIL-held villages near Uqairabat that bore similarities to the Ghouta attack, with none of the dead having blast injuries.[20][21] On 30 March 2017, an airstrike hit the town of al-Lataminah in the northern Hama Governorate, around 15 kilometers (9 miles) from Khan Shaykhun. More than 70 people in the area were then exposed to an unidentified chemical agent and showed symptoms of nausea, agitation, foaming, muscle spasm, and miosis (constriction of the pupil of the eye). Cardiac arrest occurred in two of the victims[22] and an orthopedic doctor died.[23]

Attack

Map showing frontlines at the time of the attack, with the location of the strike marked by the hatched circle

The attack took place around 6:30 a.m. local time on 4 April, before most children and parents had left for school or work.[1][24] Witnesses reported smelling a strange odor about ten minutes after a rocket attack and airstrike,[25] followed by visible symptoms of poisoning.[26] Medical workers and witnesses indicated that the attack was different than the chlorine gas attacks they had experienced in the past, in which the chlorine gas usually killed a few people in confined spaces and buildings. In contrast, in this attack, many people died outside. Furthermore, the victims exhibited pinpoint pupils, a sign of contact with nerve agents and sarin specifically.[27][28] Other symptoms reported included coldness in the extremities, decreased heart rate, and low blood pressure.[26] Some first responders died immediately at the scene[27] and some first responders became ill when they came into contact with the victims.[24] The rebels claimed the site of the aircraft launched chemical weapons attack was a blackened crater approximately 1 foot deep by 6 feet in circumference with the remains of an exploded 122mm artillery shell in it.[29]

Casualties

Medical sources in Idlib in the immediate aftermath of the attack reported more than 58 people, including 11 children, were killed and over 300 were wounded.[3]

By 7:30 a.m. EEST 100 wounded people had arrived at a local field hospital. Minister of health, Mohamad Firas al-Jundi, said that victims experienced suffocation, fluid in the lungs, foaming at the mouth, unconsciousness, spasm, and paralysis.[27] A few hours after the attack, a nearby clinic treating victims was hit by an airstrike. The area's largest hospital had been bombed two days prior.[27] According to Dr. Abdel Hay Tennari, who treated 22 victims of the attack, the symptoms of victims are corresponding to symptoms of exposure to sarin. Patients who received pralidoxime, an antidote of sarin, reportedly stabilized their medical state in around an hour.[25]

On 5 April, local doctors and rescue workers at the scene said that the number of dead had risen to 74, with 600 injured,[30] while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and French Ambassador to the United Nations François Delattre said that over 100 had died.[31]

Rescue workers gathered soil and tissue samples and sent them to Western intelligence officials for analysis.[32][33] On 6 April, the Turkish Ministry of Health, which had conducted tests on people transported to Turkey, said that it had identified the chemical used in the attack as sarin, citing lung damage found in victims.[33]

Responsibility

The chemical attack is widely attributed to the Syrian government.[34] Syria denied any involvement,[32] Russia claimed that the deaths were a result of gas released when a government airstrike hit a rebel-operated chemical weapons factory.[35][36] The UN Security Council session unanimously declared the need for an investigation of the chemical attack.[37] According to OPCW, its investigation into the attack is ongoing.[38][39]

According to the US government, the Syrian government under the Assad presidency was behind the chemical attack,[27] and that the Syrian jets carried out the bombing of a rebel stronghold.[40] U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was quoted as saying "Either Russia has been complicit or Russia has been simply incompetent".[41] According to Tillerson, the U.S. appealed Assad to cease the use of chemical weapons, and "[o]ther than that, there is no change to our military posture",[42] with ISIS remaining the primary priority.[43][44]

Syrian opposition claims

According to the Idlib Media Centre, the chemical agent had the characteristics of sarin. The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces accused the Ba'athist Syrian government and the Syrian Armed Forces of carrying out the attack and called for an immediate investigation by the United Nations Security Council.[3] Scott Ritter noted that the anti-regime opposition claims a narrative that has the Syrian air force dropping chemical bombs on a civilian population.[45]

Syrian government claims

On the day of the attack, a Syrian government official told Reuters that "the government does not and has not used chemical weapons, not in the past and not in the future."[46] The pro-government Al-Masdar News cited an army source as saying it had attacked a missile factory in the town using Sukhoi Su-22 bombers, whose bombs Al-Masdar News says cannot be filled with any chemical substances, and did not know the factory contained chemicals.[47] The use of Sukhoi Su-22 aircraft in the attack was also noted by pro-rebel sources (SOHR).[48] Later, the Russian Ministry of Defence reiterated the statement made by the Syrian Armed Forces, but said the attack on the ammunition depot took place between 11:30 and 12:30 EEST.[49]

According to Jerry Smith, the leader of the UN-backed operation that removed the Syrian government's chemical weapons stockpiles, "if it is Sarin that was stored there and conventional munitions were used, there is every possibility that some of those [chemical] munitions were not consumed and that the Sarin liquid was ejected and could well have affected the population."[50]

Walid Muallem, the Syrian foreign minister told journalists at a press conference in Damascus that their armed forces "did not and will not" use chemical weapons, even against "terror groups" fighting against the Syrian government. Muallem also said that "the first reports of the chemical attack appeared several hours before the government airstrike, indicating that the chemical attack may have been a cruel and cynical 'false flag' operation used by the jihadists in a bid for US support."[14] Muallem also promised to provide information to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the United Nations regarding the transfer of chemical substances from Iraq to Syria, or from Turkey to Syria.[51]

Russian government claims

According to US administration, Russia bears responsibility for the chemical attack because it participates in the Syrian Civil War to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who conducted the strike. However, the Russian government denied involvement in the chemical attack; Russia's defence ministry issued a statement saying that the Russian Air Force had "not carried out any strikes near Khan Shaykhun of Idlib province."[52] The Russian Foreign Ministry said it was "premature to accuse the Syrian government of using chemical weapons in Idlib", and that insist on full and impartial investigation.[39][40]

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the use of chemical weapons is a "dangerous and monstrous crime" and that Russia's support for Assad is not "unconditional". He also doubted that information is based on "objective materials or evidence", and remarked that only Syria can resist terrorists.[53]

US reaction

President Donald Trump called the attack "reprehensible" and attributed it to the Syrian government, saying the act could not be ignored "by the civilized world" during his meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan.[54][55][56] Trump also blamed the attack on supposed failures of the administration of his predecessor, Barack Obama.[56][57] U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said: "Anyone who uses chemical weapons to attack his own people shows a fundamental disregard for human decency and must be held accountable."[56][58] 72 hours after the attack, the US launched cruise missiles at the Shayrat airfield, from which the chemical attack was believed to have originated.[15] US representative to the UN Nikki Haley has stated that, though before the chemical attack the US had not considered overthrowing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power a top US priority, it is now prominent among US priorities in the region.[43] At the UN Security Council, Haley stated that "When the United Nations consistently fails in its duty to act collectively, there are times in the life of states that we are compelled to take our own action",[59] by it implying if the UN failed to hold Assad accountable for the use of chemical weapons on civilians, the US will.[60]

Military response

Main article: 2017 Shayrat missile strike
USS Ross firing a Tomahawk missile towards the Shayrat Airbase

On the morning of 7 April, 2017, the United States launched 59 cruise missiles on Shayrat Airbase, a Syrian airfield near Shayrat, believed to be the base for the aircraft that carried out the chemical attack.[15] In contrast to the coalition's accidental air raid on Deir ez-Zor in 2016, this was both a unilateral action and the first intentional strike against the Syrian government.[61][62]

Reactions

Supranational and non-governmental organizations

Countries

  • Australia Australia – Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said if al-Assad was found to be behind the attack, as the United States believe, it represented "a shocking war crime."[68]
  • Canada Canada – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: "There are continuing questions ... about who is responsible for these horrible attacks against civilians, and that's why I'm impressing on the UN Security Council to pass a strong resolution that allows the international community to determine first of all who was responsible for these attacks and how we will move forward."[69]
  • Czech Republic Czech Republic – Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek announced that the withdrawal of the Czech ambassador from Damascus might follow "if it would be confirmed that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's military used chemical weapons in Idlib Province." Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka however rejected this announcement and stated that this would only mean that then less information on the events in Syria would come available.[70]
  • Egypt Egypt – The foreign ministry released a statement saying that the "painful and unacceptable" images of the massacre reaffirm the necessity of reaching a political solution to end the crisis in Syria, in light of the international community decisions and Security Council Resolution 2254, as well as the Geneva Conventions.[71]
  • Iran Iran – President Hassan Rouhani called for an "impartial international fact-finding body" to be set up to investigate the attack.[76] Foreig monister Mohammad Javad Zarif described the incident as "very painful" and condemned it, but also criticized US for attacking the Syrian airbase "without any investigation".[77] Foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi condemned "all use of chemical weapons," but suggested the blame for the attack lay with "terrorist groups" rather than the Syrian government.[78]
  • Iraq Iraq – On 7 April, the Iraqi government condemned the chemical attack and called for an "initiative aimed at punishing those responsible". The next day, Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr also condemned the attacks and called for President Assad to step down.[79]
  • Israel Israel – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the international community "to fulfill its obligation from 2013 to fully and finally remove these horrible weapons from Syria".[80]
  • Italy Italy – Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano on Tuesday deplored the suspected chemical attack, calling it "a crime against humanity".[81]
  • Pakistan Pakistan – Foreign Office spokesperson condemned the use of chemical weapons and said "the people of Syria have suffered immensely, all stake holders in Syria need to find and work towards a peaceful resolution of the conflict now in its seventh year."[82]
  • Qatar Qatar – Qatar's foreign affairs ministry stated "History has not witnessed such brutal and inhuman crimes as those committed by Assad regime against innocent people in Syria. Shame on humanity's silence."[83] Qatar has provided support to Al-Nusra Front and other rebel groups.[84]
  • Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia – Saudi ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium Abdurrahman bin Sulaiman Al-Ahmad gave a speech at the Brussels Conference on the Future of Syria and the Region where he stressed "a ceasefire, delivery of humanitarian aid, and release of detainees."[85]
  • Switzerland Switzerland – Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter has condemned a reported chemical weapons strike in Syria, demanding that "a light be shined" on the truth behind the attack.[86]
  • Turkey Turkey – President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said such inhumane attacks are unacceptable, according to a statement attributed to presidential sources.[87] Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu condemned the chemical attack by what it claimed was government forces.[88]
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom – Matthew Rycroft, the British ambassador to the United Nations, stated: "This is clearly a war crime. I call on the Security Council members who have previously used their vetoes to defend the indefensible to change their course."[74] This was a reference to Russia and China, who in February 2017 used their vetoes to block a Security Council resolution that would have imposed sanctions on Syrians accused of attacking villages with chlorine gas in 2014 and 2015.[74] The February vote was Russia's seventh veto shielding the Assad government from Security Council action.[75]
  • Vatican City Vatican City – Pope Francis stated "I firmly deplore the unacceptable carnage that took place yesterday in Idlib province, where scores of helpless people, including many children, were killed."[89]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Francis, Ellen (4 April 2017). "Scores reported killed in gas attack on Syrian rebel area". Beirut. Reuters. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  2. ^ a b c "Idlib town reels following major chemical attack: 'No rebel positions, just people'". Syria:direct. 5 April 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d "Syria conflict: 'Chemical attack' in Idlib kills dozens". BBC. 4 April 2017.
  4. ^ SOHRkhan (14 February 2017). "اشتباكات هيئة تحرير الشام وتنظيم جند الأقصى تخلف نحو 70 قتيل بين الطرفين… والأخير يخسر 9 بلدات وقرى خلال الـ 48 ساعة الفائتة". Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  5. ^ Charkatli, Izat (23 February 2017). "Over 2,000 radical rebels defect to ISIS following intra-rebel deal".
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