Even
by the horrors of the Syrian civil war, what happened Tuesday will
stand out as a crime against humanity. More than 50 civilians, including
women and children, were killed and …
Even
by the horrors of the Syrian civil war, what happened Tuesday will
stand out as a crime against humanity. More than 50 civilians, including
women and children, were killed and about 300 others wounded by what
appears to be nerve gas -- a weapon banned by the civilized world.
The
attack came five days after the Trump administration signaled that the
Syrian dictator would not be held accountable for the slaughter of his
people.
The Trump administration said Bashar al-Assad could remain in
power -- a reversal of Obama-era policy that said Assad had to go.
Despite
the appeasing change in policy, Mr. Trump blamed Tuesday’s attack on
President Obama -- calling it a “consequence of the past
administration’s weakness.”
The attack on the village of Khan Sheikhoun bears the telltale signs consistent with a chemical weapon inflicted on civilians, apparently including infants.
We can’t independently confirm that this was a chemical attack, but
many of the victims have no visible wounds, as you’d normally expect
from an airstrike or missile. Survivors pant and gasp for air -- some of
them foaming at the mouth -- and a medic demonstrated how his patients’
pupils don’t respond to light.
“That all strongly suggests exposure to a toxic nerve agent,” the medic says.
A child gasps and pants for air after a suspected nerve gas attack in Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib province, Syria.
CBS News
The
Syrian regime denies any involvement, but Idlib province is a Syrian
rebel stronghold, regularly pounded with airstrikes by the regime and
its ally, Russia.
Suspicion will also fall on the regime because
of an earlier chemical attack, in August 2013, thought to have killed
hundreds. The U.N.’s chemical weapons watchdog concluded it was sarin
nerve gas, which the U.S. and several of its allies blamed on the Syrian
regime.
Russia also denied any involvement in Tuesday’s attack.
Its direct intervention in the Syrian civil war has propped up the
regime and helped it win back territory -- but it hasn’t come close to
ending this conflict and nightmarish scenes like these in Khan
Sheikhoun.
The U.N. chemical weapons watchdog has already begun
investigating Tuesday’s attack, though the security situation inside
Syria will make gathering evidence difficult. The U.N. Security Council
will hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday.
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