US, Russia trade claims about who used chem weapons in Syria

Syria joined the convention in 2013 after launching sarin attacks on several Damascus neighborhoods – strikes that killed hundreds of civilians and pushed the United States to the brink of military intervention.

“When you kill innocent children, innocent babies, little babies. that crosses many, many lines, beyond a red line, many, many lines”, he warned.

He said the US stood with its global allies “to condemn this horrific attack”.

If Trump were to move toward ousting Assad, something he was outspokenly against in 2013, he would need to be prepared to put pressure on Russian Federation to stand down, or be ready to engage its military directly. Analysts have pointed to VX, a nerve agent that the Assad government could produce, or Tabun, which was used to deadly effect during the Iran-Iraq war, as other possibilities, the BBC reported.

“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”, said Haley.

Freeland urged all permanent members of the Security Council to support a resolution by the U.S., Britain and France condemning the use of chemical weapons and threatening consequences. After all, Trump’s first reaction was merely to blame Obama’s “weakness” in earlier years for enabling Assad.

AbdulHai Tennari, a pulmonologist who treated dozens of victims of Tuesday’s attack, said it appeared to be more serious than a chlorine attack.

Freeland praised Haley’s comments at the Security Council, saying the USA has an important role in resolving the ongoing conflict. His government declared a 1,300-ton stockpile of chemical weapons and so-called precursor chemicals that can be used to make weapons, all of which were destroyed. The attack was reminiscent of a 2013 chemical assault that left hundreds dead and was the worst in the country’s six-year conflict.

Ayrault said the attack was a test for the new US president, Donald Trump, and his stance on Assad.

Mr Trump said the atrocity – which he blamed on Syrian President Bashar al Assad – “crossed many, many lines”, but he stopped short of saying how he would tackle the crisis. Some wanted him to focus more on condemning Assad and highlighting USA resolve. The Syrian government swiftly denied dropping chemical weapons. “Later, you will be ashamed for the actions of your authorities in the UN Security Council, stop your representatives, I am speaking to the Western audience”, Zakharova said at the briefing. He suggested that the assault that killed 72 people had diminished his former reluctance to plunge the USA further into the complex and risky turmoil in the Middle East.

“Some cases appear to show additional signs consistent with exposure to organo-phosphorus chemicals, a category of chemicals that includes nerve agents”, World Health Organization said in a statement, confirming the death toll at at least 70.

“Opposition activist videos show rescue workers hosing down survivors and the bodies of purported victims, showing no outward wounds”, NPR’s Alison Meuse reports from Beirut. And the idea of even an indirect alliance with a Syrian government that is gassing its own people will be a hard sell with a US public appalled by the reams of footage of the six-year civil war’s horror. Days earlier, White House and others officials suggested removing Assad from power was no longer a priority.

In an interview with The New York Times, the President also said Moscow’s role in the long-running civil war was “disappointing” – adding it was a “very sad day for Russian Federation because they’re aligned”.

It requests that the joint UN-OPCW investigative panel set up to determine who is responsible for chemical attacks in Syria begin work immediately to identify the perpetrators of the latest attack.

For Trump’s critics, though, it wasn’t enough. Sen.

Abdullah has been a leader in the fight against the Islamic State, Trump said.

“Honestly, we have not seen this before”.

Obama’s failure to follow through on his threat is dramatic evidence of what happens when a United States president puts his enormous power and prestige on the line in threatening military action if a red line is crossed.

Russian Federation on Wednesday blamed Syrian rebels for the attack – saying that the Syrian Air Force struck a warehouse where opposition militants were storing chemical weapons. Trump and other critics have cited that as a key moment the US lost much global credibility.

Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch and author of the report, was quoted as saying, “Rocket debris and symptoms of the victims from the August 21 attacks on Ghouta provide telltale evidence about the weapon systems used”.

Yet Trump was in agreement with Obama’s ultimate decision.