An image by Edlib Media Center, Syrian anti-government
activist group, rocked the world as reports said that a suspected chemical
weapon attack killed at least 70, including 20 children, in rebel-held
northwestern Syria. “There were also 17 women among the dead and the death toll
could rise further because there are people missing,” the Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights told AFP. Heartbreaking images of desperate patient, weeping
children and dead civilians in Syria are, unfortunately, too familiar.
If confirmed, it would be one of the worst
chemical attacks since Syria’s civil war began six years ago. It was the third
claim of a chemical attack in just over a week in Syria. The previous two were
reported in Hama province, in an area not far from Khan Sheikhoun. A few hours
later, Syrian warplanes launched another airstrike on one of the medical
clinics where victims of the first attack were being treated, the The New York
Times reported.
World leaders across the world, including
US president Donald Trump and British foreign secretary Boris Johnson, went on
to record to say that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was “undoubtedly” behind
the heinous act. Trump called on to Russia and Iran and asked them to stop
recurrence of what many are calling a war crime. Assad, who reportedly
renounced all chemical weapons four years ago said that it was not his
government which attacked the civilians as he has done every time chemical
weapons have been used in Syria. Syria’s opposition also blamed President
Bashar al-Assad’s forces, saying the attack cast doubt on the future of peace
talks. The army denied any involvement in a statement blaming “terrorist
groups” for using “chemical and toxic substances”.
As the Syrian military accused the rebels
for causing the “war crime”, reports said that the magnitude of Tuesday’s
attack was evident that the Syrian government carried out the attacks. “...only
the Syrian military had the ability and the motive to carry out an aerial
attack like the one that struck the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun,” The New
York Times report said. According to this article in Vox, there are no good
guys in the ongoing and seemingly unending civil war in Syria, as even the
rebels have been accused of atrocious war crimes. However, Tuesday’s attack or
similar attacks in the past couldn’t have been carried out without the assistance
from the ruling government.
Photos and video emerging from Khan
Sheikhoun, located south of the provincial capital of Idlib, showed the limp
bodies of children and adults. Some were struggling to breathe; others appeared
to be foaming at the mouth. Chemical weapons have killed hundreds of people
since the start of Syria’s civil war six years ago, with the United Nations
blaming three attacks on the Syrian government and a fourth on the Islamic
State. Syrian rebels and opposition activists said that pro-government forces
have used chemical weapons and bombs containing chlorine on numerous occasions.
