Update 1.07pm: Pope Francis has closed his traditional Sunday blessing by saying "nothing can justify" the use of chemical weapons against defenceless people, and called for those responsible for a suspected attack in Syria to seek negotiations. The Pope referred to news of dozens killed, including many children and women, in a suspected poison gas attack on a rebel-held town near the Syrian capital. Government forces resumed their offensive on rebel-held Douma on Friday afternoon after a 10-day truce collapsed over disagreement regarding the evacuation of opposition fighters. The alleged gas attack in Douma comes almost exactly a year after a chemical attack in the northern Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun killed dozens of people. Syria denies using chemical weapons during the seven-year civil war, and says it eliminated its chemical arsenal under a 2013 agreement brokered by the US and Russia after the attack in eastern Ghouta.

Source: Irish Examiner April 08, 2018 09:11 UTC