Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces were responsible for a deadly sarin gas attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun that killed scores of people, a UN investigative panel said Thursday (Friday in Manila). Syria ally Russia maintains that the sarin attack was most likely caused by a bomb set off directly on the ground, not by a Syrian air strike. Syria’s government has maintained it no longer possesses chemical weapons after a 2013 agreement under which it pledged to surrender them. Syrian air baseThe panel known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) received French and US intelligence that a Syrian air force Su-22 took off from Shayrat airbase and launched up to six attacks on Khan Sheikhun. US Ambassador Nikki Haley welcomed the findings and said the Security Council must send a “clear message” that the use of chemical weapons will not be tolerated.

Source: Manila Times October 27, 2017 03:45 UTC