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→‎See also: unclear how these two relate, unfortunaly there were hundred, thousands of other attacks with convential weapons
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==See also==
==See also==
{{portal|Syrian civil war}}
{{portal|Syrian civil war}}
* [[2017 al-Jinah airstrike]]
* [[April 2016 Idlib bombings]]
* [[List of massacres during the Syrian Civil War]]
* [[List of massacres during the Syrian Civil War]]
* [[Syria and weapons of mass destruction]]
* [[Syria and weapons of mass destruction]]

Revision as of 22:20, 8 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

On 4 April 2017, the town of Khan Shaykhun in the Idlib Governorate of Syria, was struck by a heavy airstrike followed by massive civilian chemical poisoning.[3] 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.[4]

At the time of the attack the town was under the control of Tahrir al-Sham,[5][6][7][8] formerly known as the al-Nusra Front.[9][10]

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,[11][12] while the Russian and Syrian governments said it was caused by the Syrian Air Force's destruction of a nearby rebel-operated chemical weapons warehouse.[13] In response, the United States launched 59 cruise missiles at Shayrat Air Base, which U.S. Intelligence believed was the source of the attack.[14][15]

On 8 April, the town was attacked again by unknown aircraft, this time using conventional bombs, with one death resulting.[16]

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. Such deadly attacks during the war were 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, the Syrian Ba'athist military was seen as the main suspect,[according to whom?] due to a large arsenal of such weapons. 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, mainly blamed on Syrian Ba'athist forces,[according to whom?] as well as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and Syrian opposition forces.

In August 2016, a confidential United Nations report explicitly blamed the Syrian military of Bashar al-Assad for dropping chemical weapons on the towns of Talmenes in April 2014 and Sarmin in March 2015.[17] 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.[18][19] 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[20] and an orthopedic doctor died.[21]

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. EEST 4 April, when most children and parents had not left for school or work.[1][22] Witnesses reported smelling a strange odor about ten minutes after they reported a rocket attack and airstrike,[23] followed by visible symptoms of poisoning.[24] Medical workers and witnesses indicated that the attack was different than the chlorine gas attacks they had experienced in the past as the chlorine gas usually killed a few people in confined spaces and buildings. In contrast, in this attack, many people died outside. They were affected by pinpoint pupils indicative of nerve agents and other toxins.[25] Other symptoms included coldness in the extremities, decreased heart rate, and low blood pressure.[24] Some first responders died immediately at the scene[25] and some first responders were sickened when they came into contact with the victims.[22]

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.[25] 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.[25] 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.[23]

On 5 April, local doctors and rescue workers at the scene said that the number of dead had risen to 74, with 600 injured,[26] while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and French Ambassador to the United Nations François Delattre said that over 100 had died.[27]

Rescue workers gathered soil and tissue samples and sent them to Western intelligence officials for analysis.[28][29] 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.[29]

Responsibility

The attack is widely attributed to the Syrian government, according to The Washington Post.[30] Russia has stated that the deaths were a result of gas released when a government airstrike hit a chemical weapons factory.[31][32]

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] The commander of the Free Idlib Army's Mountain Hawks Brigade, Capt. Hasan Haj Ali, said that Russia's claim was "a lie," that rebels aren't able to produce chemical weapons, and that no military positions in the area were bombed. "Everyone saw the plane while it was bombing with gas," he said.[28]

CNN reported that survivors "saw chemical bombs dropped from the air" during the bombing.[31]

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."[33] 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.[34] The use of Sukhoi Su-22 aircraft in the attack was also noted by pro-rebel sources (SOHR).[35] 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.[13]

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."[36]

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 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.[37]

Military response

Main article: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

On the morning of 7 April 2017 the United States launched 59 cruise missiles on Shayrat Air Base, a Syrian airfield near Shayrat, believed to be the base for the aircraft that carried out the chemical attack.[14] 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.[38][39]

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."[45]
  • 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."[46]
  • 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.[47]
  • 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.[48]
  • Iran Iran – 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.[53]
  • 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".[54]
  • Italy Italy – Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano on Tuesday deplored the suspected chemical attack, calling it "a crime against humanity".[55]
  • 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."[56]
  • 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."[57] Qatar has provided support to Al-Nusra Front and other rebel groups.[58]
  • 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."[60]
  • 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.[61]
  • Turkey Turkey – President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said such inhumane attacks are unacceptable, according to a statement attributed to presidential sources.[62] Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu condemned the chemical attack by government forces.[63]
  • 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."[51] 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.[51] The February vote was Russia's seventh veto shielding the Assad government from Security Council action.[52]
  • United States United States – 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.[64][65][66] Trump also blamed the attack on supposed failures of the administration of his predecessor, Barack Obama.[66][67] 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."[66][68] 72 hours after the attack, the US launched cruise missiles at the Shayrat airfield, from which the chemical attack was believed to originate.[14]
  • 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."[69]

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. ^ "Syria 'toxic gas' attack kills 100 in Idlib province". Al-Arabiya & AFP. 4 April 2017.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ Charkatli, Izat (23 February 2017). "Over 2,000 radical rebels defect to ISIS following intra-rebel deal".
  7. ^ "Search for the dead begins in Idlib after Islamic State-linked brigade leaves for Raqqa". Syria Direct. 22 February 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  8. ^ Chris Tomson (16 February 2017). "Jund al-Aqsa completely besieged by rival rebel factions around two towns in Idlib". al-Masdar News.
  9. ^ "Tahrir al-Sham: Al-Qaeda's latest incarnation in Syria". BBC News. 28 February 2017
  10. ^ "Death toll rises in Syria 'gas attack'". Deutsche Welle. 4 April 2017.
  11. ^ Theodore Schleifer and Dan Merica. "Trump: 'I now have responsibility' when it comes to Syria". CNN. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  12. ^ "Syria chemical 'attack': Russia faces fury at UN Security Council". BBC. 5 April 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  13. ^ a b "Russia says Syria gas incident caused by rebels' own chemical arsenal". Iraqi News. Reuters. 5 April 2017.
  14. ^ a b c "Syria war: US launches missile strikes following chemical 'attack'". BBC News. 7 April 2017.
  15. ^ US strikes on Syrian base: what we know – AFP. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  16. ^ CNN, Euan McKirdy, Jason Hanna and Barbara Starr. "Syria strikes: Site of chemical attack hit again". {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ Syria Used Chlorine in Bombs Against Civilians, Report Says. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  18. ^ Martin Chulov and Kareem Shaheen (13 December 2016). "International concern over claims of chemical weapon attack in Syria". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  19. ^ "Syrian Observatory reports suspected gas attack in Islamic State area near Palmyra". Reuters. 12 December 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  20. ^ "Breaking: Chemical Weapons Attack in Latamneh, Hama Injures 70". Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations. 30 March 2017.
  21. ^ "Warplanes strike near Syria's Hama as army counter-attacks". Reuters. 30 March 2017. Speaking to Reuters from Turkey, Abdallah Darwish, head of the health authority for rebel-held parts of Hama province, said air strikes in the south of Latamneh on Thursday morning had injured many people. "The bombardment had a substance that caused intense irritation, heavy foaming from the mouth, and constricting pupils", said Darwish, citing his medical staff on the ground. A chemical attack hit the same area on Saturday, killing an orthopedic doctor, Darwish added.
  22. ^ a b Meuse, Alison (5 April 2017). "The View From Khan Shaykhun: A Syrian Describes The Attack's Aftermath". NPR. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  23. ^ a b Alexandra Bradford (5 April 2017). "The Aftermath of an Alleged Chemical Weapon Attack in Idlib". News Deeply.
  24. ^ a b "Dozens Dead in Syria Chemical Attack". The Wall Street Journal. 4 April 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  25. ^ a b c d Barnard, Anne and Gordon, Michael R. (4 April 2017). "Worst Chemical Attack in Years in Syria; U.S. Blames Assad". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 April 2017. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  26. ^ "Death Toll in Suspected Syria Gas Attack Rises". The Wall Street Journal. 5 April 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  27. ^ "U.N. Security Council Meets on Syrian Chemical Attack; Death Toll Over 100". The New York Times. 5 April 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  28. ^ a b Loveluck, Louisa; Zakaria, Zakaria (5 April 2017). "World Health Organization: Syria chemical attack likely involved nerve agent". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  29. ^ a b "Banned Nerve Agent Sarin Used in Syria Chemical Attack, Turkey Says". The New York Times. 6 April 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  30. ^ "World Health Organization: Syria chemical attack likely involved nerve agent". The Washington Post. 5 April 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite uses deprecated parameter |authors= (help)
  31. ^ a b Dewan, Angela; Yan, Holly (5 April 2017). "Survivors of Syrian attack describe chemical bombs falling from sky". CNN. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  32. ^ "Syria chemical 'attack': What we know". BBC. 5 April 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  33. ^ "Syria gas attack: Children among 58 reported killed in Idlib". Middle East Eye. 4 April 2017. On Tuesday, an unnamed official told the Reuters news agency that the government "does not and has not" used chemical weapons, "not in the past and not in the future".
  34. ^ Leith Fadel (4 April 2017). "Details of Syrian military attack on southern Idlib town". Al-Masdar News. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  35. ^ Francis, Ellen (4 April 2017). "Scores reported killed in gas attack on Syrian rebel area". Beirut. Reuters.
  36. ^ "Syria chemical killings 'cross many lines' – Trump". Radio New Zealand. 6 April 2017. – However, the official who led the UN-backed operation to remove Syria's chemical weapons told the UK's Channel 4 News that the Russian version of events could not be discounted. "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," Jerry Smith said.
  37. ^ "'Did Not' Use Chemical Weapons: Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallen". NDTV. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  38. ^ Lamothe, Dan; Ryan, Missy; Gibbons-Neff, Thomas (6 April 2017). "U.S. strikes Syrian military airfield in first direct assault on Bashar al-Assad's government". The Washington Post. Nash Holdings LLC. Archived from the original on 7 April 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  39. ^ ABC News staff (7 April 2017). "US warships launch cruise missile strike against Syrian airfield in retaliation for chemical attack". ABC News Australia. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 7 April 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  40. ^ a b Dewan, Angela, Kareem Khadder and Holly Yan (5 April 2017). "Survivors of Syrian attack describe chemical bombs falling from sky". CNN. Retrieved 5 April 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  41. ^ "Assad regime responsible for 'awful' Syria 'chemical' attack: EU's Mogherini". Al Arabiya. 4 April 2017.
  42. ^ OPCW Press Release on Allegations of Chemical Weapons Use in Southern Idlib, Syria, 4 April 2017.
  43. ^ [Note verbale of the Technical Secretariat of the OPCW NV/ODG/209302/17 dated 5 April 2017
  44. ^ Syria: UN chief 'deeply disturbed' by reports of alleged chemical attack; OPCW investigating, UN News Centre (4 April 2016).
  45. ^ McIlroy, Tom (5 April 2017). "'A shocking war crime': Malcolm Turnbull condemns chemical weapons deaths in Syria". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  46. ^ Greenwald, Glenn (7 April 2017). "The Spoils of War: Trump Lavished With Media and Bipartisan Praise For Bombing Syria". The Intercept.
  47. ^ "PM Sobotka condemns chemicals attack in Syria". Praguemonitor.com. 6 April 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  48. ^ "Egypt strongly condemns 'indiscriminate bombardment' in Syria's Idlib". Ahram Online. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  49. ^ a b France wants U.N. Security Council meeting after suspected Syria chemical attack, Reuters (4 April 2017).
  50. ^ a b Associated Press, France Seeks Emergency UN Meeting After Suspected Chemical Attack in Syria, Reuters (4 April 2017).
  51. ^ a b c Syria chemical attack: UK, France, US demand action, Agence France-Presse (5 April 2017).
  52. ^ a b Michelle Nichols, U.N. council to meet Wednesday on suspected Syria toxic gas attack, Reuters (4 April 2017).
  53. ^ "Iran condemns use of chemical weapons in Syria". The punch. 5 April 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  54. ^ "Israel condemns Syria chemical attack, calls it a 'stain' on humanity". The Indian Express. 5 April 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  55. ^ "Syrian chemical attack crime against humanity, says Italy". Business Standard. 4 April 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  56. ^ "FO condemns use of chemical weapons in Syria, urges for peaceful resolution of conflict". Dawn. Pakistan. 7 April 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  57. ^ Khatri, Shabina S. (5 April 2017). "'Shame on humanity's silence' – Qatar condemns gas attack in Syria". Doha News. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  58. ^ Gulf allies and ‘Army of Conquest, Al-Ahram Weekly, 28 May 2015
  59. ^ Chemical attack in Idlib draws international condemnation. TRT World. 4 April 2017.
  60. ^ "Saudi condemns chemical attack in Syria". Al-Arabiya. 5 April 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  61. ^ "Switzerland calls for truth behind Syria chemical attack". Swiss Info. 5 April 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  62. ^ "Turkey condemns Syria's gas attack, urges Russia over Astana process". Hürriyet Daily News. Ankara. 4 April 2017.
  63. ^ "No Syrians will be left to decide Assad's fate if attacks continue, FM Çavuşoğlu says". Daily Sabah. 4 April 2017.
  64. ^ ";Statement from President Donald J. Trump". The White House. 4 April 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  65. ^ "Remarks by President Trump and His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan in Joint Press Conference". The White House. 5 April 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  66. ^ a b c Alexander Smith, Syria Gas Attack Reportedly Kills Dozens in Idlib Province, NBC News (4 April 2017).
  67. ^ Andrew Rafferty & Stacey Klein, Trump Pins Blame for Syrian Attack on Obama Administration, NBC News (4 April 2017).
  68. ^ Chemical Weapons Attack in Syria (press release), United States Department of State (4 April 2017).
  69. ^ "'Unacceptable carnage' Furious Pope Francis condemns Syria chemical attack". Daily Express. 5 April 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
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