Russia’s defense ministry is blaming a Syrian airstrike on a “terrorist” ammunition depot for the deaths of dozens of people in what has been described as a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria’s Idlib province.
At least 70 people, including many children, died Tuesday after suffering symptoms of chemical poisoning, including foaming at the mouth and suffocation.
According to a statement posted Wednesday on the Russian ministry’s Facebook page, the strike hit “workshops, which produced chemical warfare munitions” in the eastern outskirts of the Khan Sheikhun town.
Activists said the Syrian regime was responsible for the killings, leading the United Nations to replace a scheduled Security Council session for Wednesday morning with an emergency meeting.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s military denied using chemical weapons and blamed rebels for the carnage.
The latest
At least 70 people died — including 10 children — and many remain ill
While it has not yet been confirmed, multiple medical experts have said the attack looks like the result of a nerve agent, like sarin.
The attack came as the EU opened a two-day a conference on the future of Syria and the region.
The UK and France circulated a resolution calling for the United Nations Security Council to condemn the attack.
US Sen. John McCain called for President Donald Trump to send a strong signal to Assad that the attack will not be tolerated.
‘Many atrocious things to see’
Eyewitnesses said the attack’s aftermath was nightmarish and unlike anything that they had previously seen.
Feras al-Jundi, a physician who was an early responder in the town of Khan Sheikhun in Idlib told CNN that, upon entering the hospital where many victims were taken, “there were many, many atrocious things to see.”
He described seeing whole families who had died, corpses of those who had perished instantly in the attack, and also the dying breaths of those who the medical teams were unable to save.
“I have never in my life seen anything like that,” he told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
“The view was heartbreaking. It makes you (cry) blood.”
He added he didn’t see anyone who looked like a combatant among the dead.
UN emergency meeting, resolution
As an EU-UN chaired conference on Syria’s future got underway in Brussels, the United States, Great Britain and France circulated a resolution to be presented at an emergency session at the United Nations Security Council condemning a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria.
If the resolution goes to a vote, it is likely to face a veto threat from Russia. The move is seen as forcing Moscow to be shamed by supporting the Assad regime even as its again suspected of a chemical weapons attack.
But Feras, the doctor who witnessed the aftermath of the attack, says the mood on the ground in some parts of Syria is frustration that the international community is not holding the Syrian regime to account for its atrocities.
“I feel frustrated, because of the international community and the UN that have not forced the regime to abide by the Security Council resolution but… has been watching and doing nothing, which has allowed the regime to keep bombing the people with cluster bombs, scud missiles and now gas.”
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley condemned the attack but previously had said that Assad’s ouster was not a priority for the Trump administration.
“Do we think he’s a hindrance? Yes. Are we going to sit there and focus on getting him out? No,” she said last week.
The Syrian Coalition, an umbrella opposition group, referred to the suspected chemical attack as a “crime similar to that in Eastern Ghouta in 2013 that the international community allowed to pass without accountability or punishment.”
That attack tested the resolve of then-President Barack Obama in the face of atrocities committed by the Assad regime.
Referring to the 2013 attack, McCain told CNN: “We’ve seen this movie before, it was when Barack Obama said they would have a red line, they crossed it and he did nothing. Bashar Assad and his friends, the Russians, take note of what Americans say.”
The Ghouta attack prompted Obama to ask Congress to authorize military action against Syria in 2013. Shortly after, Syria agreed to a Russian proposal to give up control of its chemical weapons, leading Obama to retreat from threats of military action.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters Tuesday that the attack are a “consequence of the past administration’s weakness and irresolution.”
Body count expected to rise
Khaula Sawah, board member and former CEO of the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (OUSSM), another umbrella organization, said that her field team in Idlib had received reports of whole families discovered dead, and were expecting the body count to rise.
She said that her field team had reported that, while nerve gas cannot be confirmed at this time, based on the symptoms of the patients, doctors believe that this is some form of organophosphate nerve agent.
“The symptoms rapidly developed within minutes, including redness of eyes, foaming at the mouth, contracted pupils, severe dyspnoea (labored breathing) or shortness of breath and suffocation,” she told CNN.
“The symptoms progressed so rapid that fatality occurred within 10 minutes. If there were no supportive care or ICU, people were dying.”
She said that a decontamination point had been set up for victims before taking them to Turkey to receive treatment. Fifty of the injured have already been relocated to Turkey, she said.
Samples of the chemical agent were being collected and coordinated by the Idlib Direcotorate, she added.
Denial
Assad’s military denied using chemical weapons and Russia, Syria’s strong ally, said it had no warplanes in the vicinity.
It pinned the “use of chemical and poisonous material” on rebel forces “to achieve their despicable goals and agendas.”
Earlier, Syrian state-run media had reported that there was an explosion at a rebel “poison gas factory” in the countryside of Idlib.
Russia’s defense ministry said that a Syrian airstrike had hit a “terrorist” ammunition depot in the eastern outskirts of Khan Sheikhun, according to a statement posted Wednesday on the ministry’s Facebook page.
The ministry said “terrorists had been transporting chemical munitions from this largest arsenal to the territory of Iraq.”
Children affected
The UN’s children’s agency UNICEF echoed calls for action following this latest atrocity.
“The images of children choking and dying in the streets of Idlib, Syria, following alleged chemical weapons attacks, are as horrific as they are heartbreaking,” UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said in a statement.
“If confirmed, these attacks must do more than provoke our outrage; they must compel action by those with the power and the ability to bring an end to this devastating violence.
“The children of Syria have already suffered far too much, for far too long.”