The European Union on Monday imposed sanctions against 16 more high-ranking military Syrian officials and scientists over chemical weapons attacks on civilians, a statement said. The move by the bloc’s foreign ministers brings to 255 people now facing a travel ban and an assets freeze over President Bashar al-Assad’s violent crackdown on civilians during a … Read more
A joint UN-OPCW panel tasked with determining who was behind the deadly sarin gas attack in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhun is facing heavy political pressure as it prepares to present its findings in mid-October, the head of the investigation said Thursday. After meeting behind closed doors with the UN Security Council, Edmond Mulet … Read more
The Syrian government on Monday warned that any new attack by Washington on the war-ravaged country would provoke an even stronger reaction by Damascus and its allies. “We would not be surprised if the United States carried out new attacks against Syria,” deputy foreign minister Faisal al-Moqdad told reporters in Damascus. “But they should carefully … Read more
Russia on Friday dismissed a report by the UN’s chemical weapons watchdog that sarin was used as a chemical weapon in the April 4 attack in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhun. The United States and its allies have accused the Moscow-backed Syrian regime of being behind the attack, a claim Russia rejects. “We must … Read more
A fact-finding mission by the UN’s chemical watchdog, the OPCW, concluded that sarin was used as a chemical weapon in the April 4 attack in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhun, a confidential report said Thursday. The findings by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will now be taken up by a … Read more
US President Donald Trump’s warning to the Syrian government not to carry out a chemical weapons attack appears to have worked, Pentagon chief Jim Mattis said Wednesday. “It appears that they took the warning seriously,” Mattis said, referring to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. White House spokesman Sean Spicer warned Monday night that … Read more
US-led coalition air strikes killed nearly 60 people at a Syrian prison run by the Islamic State group, a monitor said Tuesday, as Washington insisted the jihadists remain its only target. The coalition has been hitting IS in Syria and Iraq since mid-2014 but has also been involved in recent confrontations with President Bashar al-Assad’s … Read more
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may be preparing a chemical weapons attack that would result in the “mass murder” of civilians, the White House said Monday, warning the regime would pay a “heavy price” if it goes ahead. The White House said the preparations were similar to those undertaken by the Assad regime ahead of an … Read more
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has said the worst of his country’s six-year war “is behind us” after a string of advances by his forces backed by key ally Russia. In recent months, Assad’s troops and allied fighters have retaken territory across the country, including recapturing all of Aleppo city in December after years of fighting. … Read more
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an interview published Tuesday, said he was “convinced” the Syrian government was not behind an alleged chemical attack in the country last month that killed dozens. In an interview with the online news feed of the conservative French daily Le Figaro, Putin added that he agreed with his French counterpart … Read more
Experts from the world’s watchdog tasked with destroying chemical weapons are probing reports that toxic arms have been used 45 times in Syria since late last year, the body’s chief said Friday. Director general Ahmet Uzumcu said there was “a huge list of allegations” of the use of toxic arms reported to the operations hub … Read more
Syria on Thursday accused France of concealing the real identity of those behind a deadly suspected chemical attack, a day after Paris said it had proof the Damascus regime was responsible. Western leaders have accused President Bashar al-Assad’s regime of carrying out an April 4 sarin gas attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun … Read more
The US government put 271 Syrian chemists and other officials on its financial blacklist Monday, punishing them for their presumed role in the deadly chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town in early April. In one of its largest-ever sanctions announcements, the Treasury Department took aim at the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC), … Read more
A US-backed alliance of Arab-Kurdish forces entered the key jihadist-held town of Tabqa on Monday as they pursued their campaign against the Islamic State group in northern Syria. The Syrian Democratic Forces have set their sights on Tabqa and the adjacent dam as part of their broader offensive for the city of Raqa, the Syrian … Read more
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov voiced “regret” in a phone call with his US counterpart at Washington’s opposition to a Moscow-backed plan to investigate an alleged chemical attack in Syria. In the call with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson which “took place at US initiative,” Lavrov raised the probe proposal made by Russia and Iran … Read more
Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad on Friday blamed the country’s former Al-Qaeda affiliate for a deadly bombing against buses carrying evacuees outside Aleppo at the weekend. “It was Jabhat al-Nusra, they haven’t hidden it from the very start, and I think that everyone agrees that it was Nusra,” Assad told Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency in … Read more
Pentagon chief Jim Mattis said during a visit to Israel Friday that there can be “no doubt” that Syria has retained some chemical weapons and warned President Bashar al-Assad’s regime not to use them. Mattis, speaking during a press conference with Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman, declined to comment on the number of weapons Washington believes … Read more
Hundreds of frightened Syrians being evacuated from besieged towns were stuck Thursday at a rebel-held transit point where more than 120 of their fellow townspeople were killed in a weekend bombing. The 3,000 evacuees left their homes in the government-controlled towns of Fuaa and Kafraya at dawn on Wednesday as part of a deal that … Read more
Russia criticised the world’s chemical weapons watchdog for not sending experts to the site of an alleged chemical attack in Syria, saying it was “unacceptable to analyse events from a distance”. But the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is in a difficult position, with its scientists and experts undertaking a dangerous mission … Read more
A suspected chemical attack on a rebel-held town in Syria’s Idlib province on April 4 killed dozens of people. Western powers blamed the incident on President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and days later, the United States responded by firing cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase. Here is a recap of developments: On April 4, 2017, an … Read more