Syria Claims It Shot Down U.S. Drone Over Latakia

Syria’s state news agency, SANA, said on Tuesday that its military had shot down a U.S. drone near the city of Latakia, the stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad in northwest Syria, the BBC reports.

“Syrian air defenses brought down a hostile U.S. surveillance plane in northern Latakia,” SANA said, without giving further details.

A U.S. Air Force Predator was lost on Tuesday over Syria, a Pentagon official confirmed, adding that it was not clear whether the drone had been shot down. “At this time, we have no information to corroborate press reports that the aircraft was shot down,” a U.S. defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Pentagon said it was looking into the incident.

In a BBC interview last month, President Assad declared there had been no collaboration between the United States and the Syrian military in the coalition strikes against the Islamic State, but added that “general messages” were conveyed to the Syrians about the strikes via a third party.

“If confirmed, it would be the first time Syrian forces have attacked a U.S. aircraft since the start of coalition strikes against Islamic State,” the BBC writes.

New Allegations of Chlorine Gas Attacks in Syria

Syrian activists said on Tuesday that a chlorine bomb attack by government forces on a the northwestern province of Idlib had killed six people, Reuters reports.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed three children were among the six people killed when barrel bombs filled with the toxic chemical were dropped on the village of Sarmin in Idlib.

The Syrian government denied the accusation, describing it as propaganda.

“We confirm that we would not use this type of weapon, and we don’t need to use it,” a Syrian military source said.

Unverified videos posted by activists in the Sarmin coordination committee show “medics and civil defense teams treating individuals who appeared to be having trouble breathing, as well as a video of three children in burial shrouds (warning: this video contains graphic images that some may find upsetting) allegedly killed in the attack, one of whom appeared to have a white froth near the nose and mouth,” the Guardian reports.

The government has denied all previous accusations that it had used chemical weapons against opposition-held areas.

Chlorine is a common industrial chemical. However, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) bans its use as a weapon.

The latest allegations come just days after the U.N. Security Council’s adoption of a resolution condemning the use of chemical weapons in Syria and threatening action in the case of new violations.

Nonetheless, any such action would require approval from the Security Council, which remains deeply divided over the Syrian conflict.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said last year it had “compelling evidence” that chlorine gas was used “systematically and repeatedly” as a weapon in rebel-held villages in northern Syria last year, though it did not specify who carried out the attack. The chemicals are usually dropped from helicopters, which only the Syrian government has access to.

Syria signed a treaty to remove all of its chemical weapons after the nerve agent sarin was used in an August 2013 attack that killed hundreds of people in the suburbs of Damascus.

U.N. Investigator Set to Share Names of Syria War Crime Suspects

[The head of a U.N. panel investigating human rights violations in the Syrian conflict said on Tuesday that the panel is ready to share secret lists of alleged war criminals with judicial authorities in countries preparing to prosecute them, the Guardian reports.

The U.N. commission hinted last month that it was considering publishing the list of individuals and groups it believes are guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, but it stopped short of doing so on Tuesday. Instead, it said it would share the lists with prosecutors and judicial authorities that are considering preparing cases.

“We will share names and information about specific alleged perpetrators with state prosecution authorities that are preparing cases to be heard before a competent and impartial judiciary,” the head of the commission, Paulo Pinheiro, told the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Three European governments have requested information from the investigators this year.

The investigators also called for the establishment of a special tribunal to prosecute cases of mass atrocities in Syria.

“The UN commission of inquiry said it would still like the U.N. Security Council to refer the Syrian conflict to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for prosecutions. But after four years of war and over 220,000 dead, and in the face of continued Russian and Chinese opposition to an ICC referral, the commission said it was looking at other means to bring a measure of justice for mass crimes committed in Syria,” the Guardian writes.

Recommended Reads

• The New York Times: Syrian Activists Say Chlorine Gas Attack Kills 6 in Idlib Province
• The Guardian: British Woman Held in Turkey on Suspicion of Trying to Travel to Syria
• Bellingcat: Iranian Fighter-Bombers Operating in Syria
• Associated Press: U.N. Chief Accuses Syria of Violating Buffer Zone with Israel
• Newsweek: How Four Years of Civil War Has Destroyed Syria

Photo Courtesy of AP Images