U.S. Deeply Disturbed by Reports of New Chemical Weapon Attack in Syria

The U.S. is deeply disturbed by reports that Syrian government forces used chemical weapons on the northwestern city of Sarmin on Tuesday, Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement on Thursday, Reuters reports.

“We are looking very closely into this matter and considering [the] next steps,” he said. “While we cannot yet confirm details, if true, this would be only the latest tragic example of the Assad regime’s atrocities against the Syrian people, which the entire international community must condemn.”

Independent monitoring groups such as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that government forces killed at least six civilians, including three children, and injured dozens on Tuesday in a chlorine gas bomb attack on Sarmin.

Videos posted online showed medics in gas masks treating victims and children suffering from suffocation.

The Syrian government denied the claims, describing them as propaganda.

In 2013, Syria agreed to destroy its entire chemical weapons stockpile under a deal reached with the U.S. and Russia after hundreds of people were killed in a sarin gas attack on the suburbs of Damascus.

“Despite the operation, the OPCW [Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons] has since documented the use of toxic chemicals, such as chlorine and ammonia, by the government in attacks on rebel-held northern villages between April and July 2014 that resulted in the deaths of at least 13 people,” the BBC writes.

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

The attack came less than two weeks after the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution condemning the use of chemical weapons including chlorine 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.

U.S. Central Command Releases Report of Number of Targets Hit by U.S.-Led Coalition Against the Islamic State

U.S. Central Command has released an update of the number of targets hit by the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria since the operation began.

Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said that the coalition had struck 5,314 targets since operations began in August up to March 18.

In total, the U.S. military has flown 2,320 airstrikes against Islamic State militants, including 1,169 in Syria, at a cost of $1.83 billion.

“In the target count as of yesterday, for example, coalition forces had hit 73 tanks, 282 Humvees, 408 staging areas, 736 buildings, more than 1,000 fighting positions and – significantly, [Warren] said – 87 oil collection points,” the Department of Defense reported.

The Pentagon said that oil sales are no longer the primary source of revenue for the Islamic State as a result of the strikes.

Warren also confirmed that U.S. military controllers have lost contact with an unarmed U.S. drone operating over northwestern Syria, and corroborated reports that the drone was shot down.

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.

“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 wrote this week.

Recommended Reads

• Bloomberg: Syria Crosses Obama’s New Red Line
• The Wall Street Journal: Downing of American Drone, Likely by Syria, Outlines Risks to U.S.
• The New York Times: Helping the Victims in Syria and Iraq
• The Washington Post: U.S. Should Boost Resettlement of Syrian Refugees
• The Guardian: Syrian Seedbank Wins Award for Continuing Work Despite Civil War
• UNHCR: Fighting and Despair Triggers Rise in Numbers Fleeing Syria to Jordan
• Reuters: Syria Says Retrieves 120 Looted Antiquities
• NPR: Filmmakers Find a Different Way to Show the Syrian Conflict
• Foreign Policy: As Syrian Civil War Rages On, Chemical Weapons Use Persists
• Al-Monitor: No Sign of Turkey–Syria Border Reopening