The White House said the activities were similar to those made before a suspected chemical attack in April.

Dozens died in that attack and prompted President Donald Trump to order a strike against a Syrian air base.

The US statement warned President Bashar al-Assad of “a heavy price” if another strike occurred.

It said “another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime” was likely to result “in the mass murder of civilians”.

The statement added: “As we have previously stated, the United States is in Syria to eliminate the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. If, however, Mr Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price.”

President Assad has denied his forces were behind the suspected nerve gas attack in the rebel-held north-western town of Khan Sheikhoun in April.

Dozens of civilians, including many children, died.

In response, US Navy ships in the Mediterranean fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Shayrat airfield, in western Homs province, which it said was used to store chemical weapons.

The latest development comes amid increasing tension in the region between the US and President Assad’s ally, Russia.

The Kremlin recently warned the US-led coalition that it would view its aircraft as targets after the US shot down a Syrian military plane.

Syria’s six-year civil war has left more than 300,000 people dead and created more than five million refugees.

Militant Islamist groups including so-called Islamic State (IS) have used the conflict to seize swathes of land.

Warplanes from a US-led coalition are supporting an alliance of Arab and Kurdish militias as they carry out an assault on the group’s stronghold of Raqqa.

–

Source: BBC

The post US warns Syria over ‘potential’ plan for chemical attack appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The release of chemicals in a rebel-held town in Idlib province brought furious international reaction.

Officials in Damascus deny opposition and Western claims that they used chemical weapons.

Russia’s defence ministry said a Syrian air strike had hit a rebel ammunition store that included chemical weapons.

In particular, “a workshop for the production of land mines filled with poisonous substances” had been hit, it said.

It seemed to support accounts by Syrian military sources a day earlier who reported an explosion at what they called a rebel chemical weapons factory in Khan Sheikhoun.

Earlier, the US and other powers had blamed the Syrian government.

Footage from the scene showed civilians, many of them children, choking and foaming at the mouth.

Witnesses said clinics treating the injured were then targeted by air strikes.

UK-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at 72, including 20 children.

It was unable to say which chemical had been involved but pro-opposition groups said it was believed to have been the nerve agent Sarin.

‘War crime’

The attack will overshadow a conference in Brussels at which 70 donor nations will discuss aid efforts in Syria. Delegates want to step up humanitarian access for thousands of civilians trapped by fighting.

Syria’s civil war has raged for more than six years, with no political solution in sight.

Nearly five million Syrians have fled the country and more than six million are internally displaced, the UN says. More than 250,000 people have been killed.

Wednesday’s emergency meeting of the UN Security Council was called by France and the UK as international outrage mounted over the attack.

Britain’s ambassador to the UN, Matthew Rycroft, said the incident was “very bad news for peace in Syria”.

“This is clearly a war crime and I call on the Security Council members who have previously used their vetoes to defend the indefensible to change their course,” he told reporters in New York.

In a statement, US President Donald Trump condemned what he called “these heinous actions” by the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson accused the Syrian government of “brutal, unabashed barbarism”.

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said it was a “horrific” attack and that there should be a “clear identification of responsibilities and accountability” for it.

–

Source: BBC

The post Syria civil war: UN calls emergency talks after ‘gas attack’ appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that strikes on Khan Sheikhoun by Syrian government or Russian jets had caused many people to choke.

Later, there were unconfirmed reports that aircraft had fired rockets at local clinics treating survivors.

The Syrian government has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons.

If confirmed, it would be one of the deadliest chemical attacks in Syria since the civil war began six years ago.

Mohammed Rasoul, who is in charge of a charity ambulance service in Idlib, told BBC Arabic that he received news of the air strikes at about 06:45 (03:45 GMT).

When three of his ambulances arrived at the scene about 20 minutes later, medics found people choking in the street, he said.

“Our team is still there, moving patients from one place to another because of overcrowded hospitals.”

“I am speaking to my team and they are doing fine, but the situation over there is very bad and most of those who are suffering are children,” he added.

Mr Rasoul reported that 67 people had died and that 300 were injured, while the pro-opposition Step news agency put the death toll at 100.

The Syrian Observatory cited medical sources in Khan Sheikhoun as reporting that 11 children were among the dead, and that the symptoms among those affected included fainting, vomiting and foaming at the mouth.

The pro-opposition Edlib Media Centre (EMC) posted a large number of photographs of people receiving treatment, as well as images showing what appeared to be the bodies of at least seven children in the back of a pick-up truck. It was not immediately possible to verify the images’ authenticity.

The Syrian Observatory said it was unable to confirm the nature of the substance that was dropped, but the EMC said it was thought to be the nerve agent sarin.

Idlib province, where the air strikes took place, is largely controlled by an alliance of rebel factions and the al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

The region is regularly targeted in air strikes by the government and its ally Russia, as well as the US-led multinational coalition against so-called Islamic State.

The main Syrian opposition alliance, the National Coalition, accused President Bashar al-Assad’s government of being behind the attack on Khan Sheikhoun and called on the UN Security Council to order an immediate investigation.

“Failure to do so will be understood as a message of blessing to the regime for its actions,” it warned in a statement.

In August 2013, the government was accused by Western powers of firing rockets filled with sarin at several rebel-held suburbs of the capital Damascus, killing more than 300 people. Mr Assad denied the charge, but did agree to destroy Syria’s chemical arsenal.

Despite this, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has continued to document the use of toxic chemicals in attacks in Syria.

A joint investigation with the UN concluded last October that government forces had used chlorine as a weapon at least three times between 2014 and 2015. It also found IS militants had used the blister agent sulphur mustard.

Human Rights Watch also accused government helicopters of dropping bombs containing chlorine on rebel-held areas of Aleppo on at least eight occasions between 17 November and 13 December, during the final stages of the battle for the city. The attacks killed at least nine civilians.

–

Source: BBC

The post Syria chemical attack kills 58 people appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.