Non-State Actors Used Mustard Gas in Aleppo, Watchdog says

International inspectors confirmed on Friday that mustard gas was the toxic agent used in attack by rebels in northern Syria this summer, according to a statement released by global chemical weapons watchdog.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on Friday confirmed with “utmost confidence” that mustard gas was used in the Aleppo town of Marea on August 21, AFP reports.

The OPCW report places blame for the chemical attack on non-state actors, but activists and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights have said militants connected to the self-proclaimed Islamic State were clearly behind the attack.

“We knew it was I.S. because all the shells were being fired east of Marea, and that area is totally under the control of I.S.,” said Maamun al-Khatib, a journalist who was in Marea at the time of the attack.

Medics working with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in a field clinic near the town said they treated four members of one family for “symptoms of exposure to chemical agents.”

Residents of Marea told MSF at the time of the attack they had seen “yellow gas” released after a mortar hit their home.

MSF, for its part, said it did not have enough evidence to be sure of the party behind the attacks.

U.N.: Aid Must Help Refugees Make A Living

A high-ranking U.N. official said Sunday that international aid directed to the millions of refugees pouring out of Syria must be aimed at helping them make a living close to home, the Associated Press reports.

Aid must “go beyond relief,” according to Helen Clark, head of the U.N. Development Program (U.N.D.P.), but sufficient funding is needed for any chance at a positive shift.

Donors have thus far paid only half of the $4.5 billion sought by aid agencies working with Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan.

“The critical thing for Syrians and for the countries in the neighborhood is support here, now,” Clark said during a tour of northern Jordan. “It must go beyond relief. People want dignity. They want services. They want livelihoods. Our response is focused around those things which enable them to be independent, not dependent.”

The U.N.D.P. began a two-day conference on Sunday tasked with charting a new way forward for assisting refugees and their regional host countries.

U.S.-led Airstrikes in Syria Increase

The air campaign led by the U.S. against ISIS in Syria has increased over the last few days after nearly grinding to a halt in late October, the Guardian reports.

In an eight-day period at the beginning of November, coalition jets carried out 56 airstrikes on ISIS positions in Syria, compared to only three strikes in the previous eight-day period, U.S. military officials said.

The coalition said it hit dozens more targets on Saturday.

Most of the alliance strikes have targeted the areas of Marea, al-Hawl, Hassakeh and Deir Ezzor.

The jump in coalition air activity came hand-in-hand with Washington’s shift in strategy, announced at the end of October, after it was revealed that its $50 million program to train rebel troops had been a bust.

Recommended Reads

• Counter Punch: Plane Bombing Proves Russian Airstrikes are Hurting ISIS
• Mother Jones: U.S.-Backed Forces in Syria Accused of Human Rights Violations
• The National: ISIL and Assad Have No Place
• The New York Times: As U.S. Escalates Air War on ISIS, Allies Slip Away
• The Huffington Post: Syria’s Assad Is Expendable But Regime’s Survival Is Not

Top image: Syrian refugee Yasmeen Alhawal, 5, who came with her father Khalil from Aleppo, Syria, poses for a picture on Friday, Sept 11, 2015, holding a bag of her belongings as they make their way along the railway at the Serbian-Hungarian border near Roszke, southern Hungary. “We just want to go to a country that treats us like humans. Our homes were destroyed, daily fear not only from Bashar Assad but also from Islamic State, I.S.,” said Yasmeen’s father, Khalid Alhawal. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)