70 killed in Syria gas bomb attack, world outraged

A picture taken on April 4 2017 shows destruction at a hospital room in Khan Sheikhun a rebelheld town in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province following a suspected toxic gas attack Photo AFPDamascus One of the worst chemical bombings in Syria that killed at least 20 innocent children and 50 other persons sparked an international outrage on Wednesday and prompted the United Nations to call for a probe into the attack and to view it as a possible war crimeThe UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said in a statement the use of chemical weapons as well as any deliberate targeting of medical facilities would amount to war crimes and serious violations of human rights lawIt is imperative for perpetrators of such attacks to be identified and held accountable said the independent panel led by Brazilian expert Paulo PinheiroWorld leaders including President Trump blamed the Syrian government of President Bashar alAssad for the attack and called on Russia and Iran to prevent a recurrence of what Trump termed a heinous act that cannot be ignored by the civilised worldLate on Tuesday Britain France and the US were pushing the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution that condemns the attack and orders the Syrian government to provide all flight logs flight plans and names of commanders in charge of air operations including those for Tuesday to international investigatorsThe draft resolution negotiated among diplomats from the three countries was later circulated to all 15 members of the UN Council It could come up for a vote laterVictims died some writhing choking gasping or foaming at the mouth after breathing in poison that possibly contained a nerve agent or other outlawed chemicals according to witnesses doctors and rescue workersThey said the toxic substance spread after warplanes dropped bombs early on Tuesday Some rescue workers became ill and collapsed from proximity to the deadThe oppositionrun Health Department in Idlib province where the attack took place said 69 people had died It provided a list of their dead The dead were still being identified and some humanitarian groups said as many as 100 had diedThe Assad government which renounced chemical weapons nearly four years ago after a large chemical attack that American intelligence agencies concluded was carried out by his forces denied that his military had been responsible as he has done every time such chemical attacks took place in the impoverished Arab countryThe attack would mark the deadliest chemical attack in Syria since sarin nerve gas killed some 1300 civilians in Ghouta near Damascus in August 2013In the aftermath of the Ghouta massacre a UN team supervised the surrender of Syrias sarin supplies the removal of which was supposed to have been completed early in 2014 However suspicions have remained that a portion of the stockpile was not declared to the UN inspectorsRussias Defence Ministry denied it was responsible telling the staterun RIA news agency that it carried out no bombing runs in the areaThe Syrian government has repeatedly denied using such weapons in the past On three previous occasions though United Nations investigations have found it guilty of using chemical weaponsBritainbased monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the latest toll at 72 including 20 children The monitoring group which tracks the war through a network of contacts on the ground was unable to confirm the nature of the substance usedTuesdays attack struck Khan Sheikhun area where thousands of refugees from the nearby province of Hama live The town is also on a crossroads between Hama and Idlib and is considered vital to any regime offensive towards the northern city of IdlibIdlib is reportedly one of the last bastions of the Islamic State in Syria and has been subjected to a relentless campaign of aerial bombardment despite a supposed ceasefire brokered this year by Russia and Turkey that was aimed at paving the way for political negotiationsThe raid in Khan Sheikhun indicates Assads growing confidence He has wrested control of territory from the rebels including the entire city of Aleppo in recent monthsHis regime has benefited from the unflinching support of Moscow and Shia militias backed by Iran as well as waning support for the opposition by its allies in the region and the new US administration