Syrian Opposition, Activists Report Alleged Chemical Attack in Idlib
Several groups based in Idlib claim government helicopters dropped at least two barrel bombs with chlorine gas on the town of Saraqeb.
The head of Syria’s main opposition group in exile Khaled Khoja confirmed that he had received the reports during an informal meeting with the U.N. Security Council.
He urged the council to act on its most recent resolution condemning the use of chemical weapons including chlorine in Syria and threatening action in the case of new violations.
Activists have reported several attacks since the U.N. resolution passed condemning their use. The Council earlier this month heard first-hand accounts and viewed graphic footage of the most recent suspected chemical attack, including an account from a Syrian doctor who had treated victims of dozens of attacks.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has found evidence that chlorine gas was “systematically and repeatedly” used as a weapon in Syria.
Council members such as France, Britain and the United States have accused the Syrian government of the attacks, pointing out that OPCW reports have linked the attacks to the use of helicopters and that only Syria’s government has helicopters.
Nonetheless, any such action would require approval from the Security Council, which remains deeply divided over the Syrian conflict.
Elsewhere in the country, a powerful blast hit an explosives manufacturing plant in Syria’s eastern Deir Ezzor province Wednesday, killing 25 fighters belonging to the Islamic State, Agence France-Presse reports.
“A strong explosion took place this evening in an IS explosives factory in the town of Al-Mayadeen in the province of Deir Ezzor,” the Syrian Observatory reported.
“Several other explosions followed, shaking the whole town. Twenty-five ISIS fighters were killed, around 20 others were injured,” it added.
The Islamic State governs large swathes of territory inside Syria and Iraq and has set up its own courts to administer what it describes as Islamic law. It controls large portions of the oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor, however government forces still retain control over parts of the provincial capitals and other areas of less strategic importance.
U.S. Allies in the Middle East Boost Support to Syrian Rebels
The Washington Post reports on efforts made by U.S. allies in the Middle East to boost support for rebels fighting against the Syrian government amid frustration with the United States for failing to act more quickly and decisively to support a viable Syrian opposition force, and its insistence that the fighters focus on battling the Islamic State.
Weapons and financial aid from Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have facilitated recent rebel gains against government forces in northwest Syria by the Army of Conquest, an alliance of rebel groups, including al-Qaida’s affiliate and other Islamist groups, along with “moderate” fighters, the paper writes.
Regional officials insist that the aid is not going to Islamist groups. Instead, it is meant to assist moderate groups inside Syria that have been increasingly outgunned and out-financed by more militant Islamist groups.
Turkey and Saudi Arabia, with assistance from Qatar, recently ended their estrangement to address their shared goal of ousting Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, The Huffington Post reported earlier this month.
“The new approach could undermine three years of U.S. Syria policy focused on securing a negotiated settlement to the war by putting enough pressure on Assad that he feels compelled to make compromises, but not enough to score an outright opposition victory that might result in chaos and cause Syria to collapse even further,” the paper concludes.
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