UN says Syrian government conclusively behind sarin gas attack ‘war crime’
A UN commission lays the blame firmly on Syria, saying a government warplane dropped the gas on April 4, killing at least 83 people
Geneva — On Wednesday, UN war crimes investigators said they had evidence that Syrian government forces were behind the chemical attack that killed at least 83 people in Khan Sheikhoun on April 4. In the first UN report to officially lay blame for the attack on Damascus, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said it had gathered an "extensive body of information" showing Damascus was behind the horrific sarin gas attack. The report also says Syrian forces have used chemical weapons more than two dozen times during the country’s civil war, including in the deadly Khan Sheikhoun attack that led to US air strikes on government planes. The attack was previously identified as containing sarin, an odourless nerve agent, but that conclusion, reached by a fact-finding mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, did not say who carried it out. "Government forces continued the pattern of using chemical weapons against civilians in opposition-held areas. In the gravest...
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