[DAWN] A suspected chemical attack that killed at least 58 civilians in rebel-held northwestern Syria on Tuesday has prompted widespread outrage and calls for international action.The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said an air strike in Idlib province which released "toxic gas" was likely carried out by government warplanes, a charge the regime denied.
The White House
The White House accused Bashir al-Assad of carrying out a "reprehensible" and "intolerable" chemical attack in Syria Tuesday, the sharpest criticism of his regime since Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
became president.
Press secretary Sean Spicer said an "extremely alarmed" Trump was briefed extensively by security aides on the suspected attack, which killed dozens in the rebel town of Khan Sheikhun.
"Today's chemical attack in Syria against innocent people, including women and kiddies, is reprehensible," Spicer said in a prepared statement.
The administration, Spicer said, was "confident" that Assad was to blame but refused to speculate on how the US would respond.
"I'm not ready to talk about our next step, but we will get there soon," he said.
UN envoy
UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said the "horrific" attack was believed to be chemical and launched from the air, telling news hounds in Brussels that there should be a "clear identification of responsibilities and accountability".
Opposition
The Syrian opposition's chief negotiator at peace talks, Mohamad Sabra, said the attack cast new doubt on the UN-led grinding of the peace processor.
"If the United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
cannot deter the regime from carrying out such crimes, how can it achieve a process that leads to political transition in Syria?" he said.
On Twitter, the head of the opposition High Negotiations Committee Riad Hijab said the "massacre is evidence that it is impossible to negotiate with a regime addicted to criminal behaviour".
Regime
| A senior Syrian security source rejected allegations that Syria's government was behind the attack. "This is a false accusation," the source said, adding that the opposition was attempting to "achieve in the media what they could not achieve on the ground". |
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Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...that "this kind of inhuman attack was unacceptable".
Presidential sources said Erdogan had told Putin by phone that the attack threatened peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana, but did not assign blame for the attack.
Germany
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said that if the Syrian regime had indeed carried out a chemical attack, "it would be an act of such cruelty as to be without equivalent", and "another reason we should not deal with the Assad regime in the fight against terrorism".
La Belle France
French President Francois Hollande
...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist...
accused the Syrian regime of a "massacre".
"Once again the Syrian regime will deny the evidence of its responsibility for this massacre," Hollande said in a statement.
"Those who support this regime can once again reflect on the enormity of their political, strategic and moral responsibility." La Belle France's Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault earlier called for an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting over the attack, which he described as "monstrous".
Britannia
British Prime Minister Theresa May said she was "appalled" by reports of the attack, adding, "We condemn the use of chemical weapons in all circumstances." She added: "I'm very clear that there can be no future for Assad in a stable Syria ... and I call on all the third parties involved to ensure that we have a transition away from Assad.
"We cannot allow this suffering to continue." British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said in a statement that the incident bore the "hallmarks of an attack by the regime, which has repeatedly used chemical weapons".
European Union
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European Union diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said the Assad regime bore "primary responsibility" for the attack.
"Obviously there is a primary responsibility there of the regime because it has responsibility of protecting its people not attacking its people," she said.
Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the world must act to rid Syria of chemical weapons. In a statement, he called on the international community "to fulfil its obligation from 2013 to fully and finally remove these horrible weapons from Syria".
Syria's government joined the Chemical Weapons Convention and agreed to give up its chemical arsenal in 2013 as part of a deal to avert US military action over previous alleged chemical attacks.
Syrian General Staff denies it was them
The General Command of the Syrian Army and Armed Forces categorically denied on Tuesday allegations and claims circulated by media outlets, which are partner in shedding the Syrian blood, about the use of chemical substances in the town of Khan Shaikhoun town in Idlib countryside.
“The armed terrorist groups used to accuse the Syrian Arab Army of using toxic gases against them groups or against civilians in anytime they fail to implement the targets of their sponsors and operators or when they are unable to achieve any advantages on the ground in an desperate attempt to justify their failure and to maintain the support of their supporters,” the Army’s general command said in a statement.
It categorically denied any use of chemical or poisonous materials in the town of Khan Shaikhoun in Idlib countryside, affirming that it didn’t and will never use those materials in any place or time, nor in the future.
The army’s general command held the terrorist groups and those behind them responsible for the use of chemical and toxic substances and the disregard for the lives of innocent citizens to achieve their goals and base agendas.