The White House on Saturday condemned the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government, after an international inquiry found its forces responsible for a third toxic gas attack in Syria’s civil war. Syrian forces responsible for third chemical attack, say investigators Read moreThe fourth report from the 13-month-long inquiry by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the global chemical weapons watchdog, blamed Syrian government forces for a toxic gas attack in Qmenas in Idlib governorate on 16 March 2015, according to a text of the report seen by Reuters. “We condemn in the strongest possible terms the Assad regime’s defiance of the longstanding global norm against chemical weapons use and Syria’s abrogation of its responsibilities under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which it joined in 2013,” the White House National Security Council spokesman, Ned Price, said in a statement on Saturday. Price said that Russian “military and economic support to Syria enables the Assad regime to continue its military campaign against its own people”. In 2013, Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons under a deal brokered by Moscow and Washington.

Source: The Guardian October 22, 2016 21:18 UTC