PhotoThe Russian government has sharply contested accounts by witnesses and international leaders of a chemical attack that killed more than 100 people in northern Syria on Tuesday. There is no independent evidence that a chemical weapons facility existed in that area. Also, if a chemical weapons facility had been hit, the resulting explosion would most likely have caused the chemical to burn up, international weapons experts say. Who Is ResponsibleRussian officials say insurgents making chemical weapons in a facility destroyed by the Syrian airstrike are to blame. Investigations by the United States and Western powers into the August 2013 chemical attack near Damascus that killed more than 1,400 people concluded that it had been carried out by the Syrian government.

Source: New York Times April 05, 2017 20:15 UTC