OPCW confirms use of chemical weapons in Syria in March 2017
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) announced that during the attack on northern Syria in March 2017, chemical weapons were used.
The OPCW was referring to the attacks that occurred on March 24, 2017 to the south of the city of El-Latamina in the north of the Arab Republic and on March 25 on the hospital that is in the city as well as the surrounding territories. Experts found that sarin was used during the first attack, and chlorine was used during the second. The report does not state specifically who used the chemical weapons.
The organization arrived at such conclusions after epidemiological analysis of the victims and environmental samples that were collected in these areas. The report and the results of the OPCW study were sent to all of its member countries and to the UN Security Council.
In early April, an attack with chemical weapons was carried out in the city of Khan-Shaykhun in the Syrian province of Idlib. More than 70 people were killed in the attack, including women and children, and over 200 were injured. The opposition forces and Western countries have repeatedly accused Assad’s army of the attack. Damascus denies this accusation.
After the attack, on the night of April 7, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a strike with cruise missiles on the Shayrat Airbase in Syria in response to the attack in Idlib.