Syria on the brink
Syria's never-ending civil war threatens to boil over again, with renewed fighting and allegations of a fresh chemical weapons attack.
Last night, the U.S. State Department said it is gathering information on a reported chlorine gas attack in rebel-controlled northwest Syria over the weekend, re-upping its warning to Bashir al-Assad's regime that "the United States and our allies will respond quickly and appropriately" to such war crimes.
Prior chemical attacks in April 2018 and April 2017 were met with a barrage of missiles and bombs aimed at the Syrian military.
The State Department did not provide details of Sunday's alleged incident, but local media reports that four fighters with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group that was formerly allied with al-Qaeda, suffered injuries from gas munitions dropped by regime helicopters near the village of Kabana, in Latakia province. Doctors who treated the men say they were having difficulty breathing and complained of burning eyes, and smelled strongly of chlorine. There were no reports of civilian casualties.
Both the U.K. and France have joined the Americans in calling for further investigations.
The Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has been probing the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian conflict since 2013. Its latest fact-finding report, issued at the beginning of March, found that there were "reasonable grounds" to conclude that reactive chlorine gas was used against civilians in the Damascus suburb of Douma on April 7, 2018. At least 43 people died in that attack and more than 500 others were poisoned.
The OPCW doesn't apportion blame, but the U.S. government does.
"The Assad regime’s culpability in horrific chemical weapons attacks is undeniable," Morgan Ortagus, a State Department spokesperson,said yesterday.
And she warned of "false narratives" and disinformation campaigns fed by the Syrian government and its Russian allies that seek to pin the blame for such incidents on opposition forces.
This all comes against the backdrop of a failing ceasefire in Idlib, the last remaining rebel-held region of the country.
Since fighting flared up again in late April, more than 180,000 people have been displaced from their homes. Many are now camped out along the Turkish border, hoping to be allowed to cross into safety.
Today, there are reports that opposition forces are on the offensive, retaking control of a village that Syrian government troops had captured on May 8, and launching rocket attacks against a nearby Russian airbase.
The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports more than 1,150 air and artillery strikes over the past 24 hours and hundreds of deaths over the past three days, including at least 19 civilians. Shells also hit a Turkish military observation post.
More than two dozen schools and health care facilities in the region have been targeted over the past month.
Although most of the country is now back under Assad's control, there is still no end in sight for the now eight-year-long civil conflict. But the price that average Syrians have paid for the power struggle is coming into sharper focus.
Yesterday, the Syria Justice and Accountability Center, an independent human rights organization,issued a report based on an examination of 5,000 seized Syrian government documents that detail how the Assad regime tried to crush the uprising.
It details orders to "do the necessary" to quell demonstrations, and an almost total disregard for the safety of civilians when the military planned attacks.
The documents also paint a picture of a state that jailed or disappeared its citizens on the slimmest of suspicions, from rumours of an intention to protest, to an overheard critical remark at a dinner party.
At least 14,000 people have died in Syrian prisons since the uprising began in March 2011, and 128,000 people have gone missing since being taken into custody.
Last night, the U.S. State Department said it is gathering information on a reported chlorine gas attack in rebel-controlled northwest Syria over the weekend, re-upping its warning to Bashir al-Assad's regime that "the United States and our allies will respond quickly and appropriately" to such war crimes.
Prior chemical attacks in April 2018 and April 2017 were met with a barrage of missiles and bombs aimed at the Syrian military.
The State Department did not provide details of Sunday's alleged incident, but local media reports that four fighters with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group that was formerly allied with al-Qaeda, suffered injuries from gas munitions dropped by regime helicopters near the village of Kabana, in Latakia province. Doctors who treated the men say they were having difficulty breathing and complained of burning eyes, and smelled strongly of chlorine. There were no reports of civilian casualties.
Both the U.K. and France have joined the Americans in calling for further investigations.
The Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has been probing the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian conflict since 2013. Its latest fact-finding report, issued at the beginning of March, found that there were "reasonable grounds" to conclude that reactive chlorine gas was used against civilians in the Damascus suburb of Douma on April 7, 2018. At least 43 people died in that attack and more than 500 others were poisoned.
The OPCW doesn't apportion blame, but the U.S. government does.
"The Assad regime’s culpability in horrific chemical weapons attacks is undeniable," Morgan Ortagus, a State Department spokesperson,said yesterday.
And she warned of "false narratives" and disinformation campaigns fed by the Syrian government and its Russian allies that seek to pin the blame for such incidents on opposition forces.
This all comes against the backdrop of a failing ceasefire in Idlib, the last remaining rebel-held region of the country.
Since fighting flared up again in late April, more than 180,000 people have been displaced from their homes. Many are now camped out along the Turkish border, hoping to be allowed to cross into safety.
Today, there are reports that opposition forces are on the offensive, retaking control of a village that Syrian government troops had captured on May 8, and launching rocket attacks against a nearby Russian airbase.
The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports more than 1,150 air and artillery strikes over the past 24 hours and hundreds of deaths over the past three days, including at least 19 civilians. Shells also hit a Turkish military observation post.
More than two dozen schools and health care facilities in the region have been targeted over the past month.
Although most of the country is now back under Assad's control, there is still no end in sight for the now eight-year-long civil conflict. But the price that average Syrians have paid for the power struggle is coming into sharper focus.
Yesterday, the Syria Justice and Accountability Center, an independent human rights organization,issued a report based on an examination of 5,000 seized Syrian government documents that detail how the Assad regime tried to crush the uprising.
It details orders to "do the necessary" to quell demonstrations, and an almost total disregard for the safety of civilians when the military planned attacks.
The documents also paint a picture of a state that jailed or disappeared its citizens on the slimmest of suspicions, from rumours of an intention to protest, to an overheard critical remark at a dinner party.
At least 14,000 people have died in Syrian prisons since the uprising began in March 2011, and 128,000 people have gone missing since being taken into custody.
