Pressure mounts on Syria as Russia backs chemical attack investigation

Turkey says post mortems of victims confirm suspicions that gas used in attack on Khan Sheikhoun was sarin.

Syrian foreign minister Walid Moallem addresses a press conference in Damascus on April 6, 2017 to deny that the government had ever used chemical weapons in the civil war ravaging the country. YousseShow more

BEIRUT // Russia on Thursday said it was in favour of a full investigation into the poison gas attack which killed more than 80 people in north-west Syria.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov also said Russian support for Syrian president Bashar Al Assad was not unconditional.

While the Russians gave no indication of who should conduct the investigation, it was the first sign of a small capitulation by Syria’s staunch ally in the face of universal condemnation of the Syrian regime and offered a glimmer of hope for a UN Security Council resolution condemning the attack and demanding the Syrians hand over flight plans for Tuesday, the day of the attack.

The global chemical weapons watchdog revealed it had “initiated contact” with the Syrian authorities. In a statement, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said it had also asked all members of the Chemical Weapons Convention to share “any information they may have regarding the allegations of chemical weapons use in the Khan Sheikhoun area of Idlib province”.

Russia had earlier used its veto to block a draft resolution presented by Britain, France and the US, calling it “categorically unacceptable” and put forward a rival draft that did not include demands for the Syrian government to cooperate.

But on Thursday, hopes rose for a vote as the evidence pointing to the use of chemical weapons against civilians, including children, continued to mount.

The Turkish health ministry said first analysis of autopsies performed on victims who were taken across the border into Turkey indicated they had been exposed to the nerve gas sarin. Samples would also be sent to The Hague for testing by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

Almost 60 victims of Tuesday’s attack on Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province were taken to Turkey for treatment and three of them died there. The attack happened only 100 kilometres from the border and the Turkish government – a close ally of Syrian rebels – set up a decontamination centre at a border crossing, where the injured were treated before being moved to hospitals.

Unicef, the UN children’s agency, said at least 27 children were among the those who perished in the chemical attack. There were also many children among the 546 who were injured, and the death toll is expected to rise.

Unicef regional director Geert Cappelaere called on all parties to the conflict to “immediately put an end to this horror”.

The Syrian government continued to insist it had not used chemical weapons.

“I stress, once again, that the Syrian Arab Army did not and will not use such weapons even against the terrorists who are targeting our people,” said foreign minister Walid Moallem in Damascus.

He repeated the Syrian government’s claim – backed by Russia – that toxic agents were released when Syrian warplanes bombed a warehouse belonging to the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda. The minister did not say whether the government knew in advance that the warehouse contained a chemical weapons arsenal.

Asked whether his country would allow access to a fact-finding mission, Mr Moallem said Damascus would want guarantees of impartiality and no political bias. “Our experiences with international investigating committees have not been encouraging, because they come out of Damascus with certain indications which then change at their headquarters, ” he said.

The area of the town affected by the attack is difficult to reach and as more time passes, it will be increasingly difficult to determine exactly what happened.

The OPCW gathers information from witnesses and analyses samples gathered from the sites of alleged attacks and from victims. In the past it has concluded that chlorine and sulphur mustard almost certainly have been used as weapons. On Thursday, the global chemical weapons watchdog revealed it had “initiated contact” with the Syrian authorities, but did not reveal whether it already had staff or investigators on the ground in Syria.

Back at UN headquarters on Thursday, key Security Council members, including the United States and Russia, were meeting behind closed doors to try to reach agreement on a resolution that would condemn the attack and authorise an independent investigation by the OPCW. Britain’s deputy ambassador Peter Wilson said, “What we want is a unanimous resolution ... and we want to see this done soon.”

The French ambassador Francoi Delattre said, “We have engaged into negotiations in good faith to adopt a resolution. But make no mistake about it, we need a robust text.”

* Associated Press