Here what you need to know about Khan Shaikhoun’s Sarin Attack!

Eldorar Alshamia Editor | 5 April, 2017
   Views

by ElDorar's Observing Unit:

 

A Syrian military aircraft bombed the city of Khan Shaikhoun with poisonous materials, ElDorar’s correspondent confirmed. “At 6:35 am, a warplane (Sukhoi 22) targeted the town of Khan Sheikhoun, south of Idlib province and hit people’s gatherings in the city with several chemical-laden bombs; killing 103 civilians and leaving approximately 300 suffocating sufferers.

The killing machine continues in Khan Shaikhoun

The continuation of the air raids on the city targeting the civil defense teams and hospitals had a role in the loss of many civilians for their lives, in addition to the medical weakness amid no critical care rooms and in a statement to the director of free health directorate in the province of Idlib ,doctor Munther Khalil said: it seems that Assad regime has arranged to the current chemical massacre the day before by targeting the Maarat al-Nu'man National Hospital, which is the main hospital providing medical services to the southern countryside of Idlib.

Western and international reactions

The United Nations Security Council has approved an emergency meeting on Wednesday on Khan Shaikhoun. The US envoy, Nikki Heili, whose country holds the presidency of the Security Council this month, announced postponement of the Council's meetings scheduled for tomorrow to discuss the Syrian regime's targeting of civilians. , which came after a request by Britain and France for an emergency meeting, but it seems that the meeting will not contain any draft resolution condemning the Assad regime, especially as the council held a meeting a month ago for the same matter and in the presence of draft resolution "French-British" sanctions on the regime For chemical use,  Russia then"vetoed" and turned down.

The British Foreign Secretary, "Boris Johnson" said that Assad would be a criminal if it is proven involvement in the chemical attacks, while French President "François Hollande" condemned the attack and said: "Bashar al-Assad will deny as usual the responsibility of the attack, as he did after the Al Ghouta’s 2013 attack. "As for EU High Representative for Security and Foreign Policy Federica Mujerini, the Syrian regime openly blamed the attack on Khan Shaikhoun with chemical weapons.

UN Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura described the chemical attack as "horrific" and said the UN Security Council would meet to demand accountability.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) concerns about the alleged attack, saying it was waiting for reports from the fact-finding mission to be analyzed and to determine its results.

Arab countries have not yet issued any statement from Arab officials, but the State of Qatar, which expressed condemnation of the massacre, and called for the opening of an international investigation and take immediate and effective measures to protect the Syrian people and the Palestinian resistance movement "Hamas" condemned the massacre as well.

"We condemn the mass killings targeting the Syrian people. We condemn the ugly massacre that took place today in Khan Shaikhoun and the use of chemical weapons. We also call for stopping the bleeding of Syrian blood and spare civilians from their lives."

Assad Regime owns the Chemical weapons vs Impotent international community

Although the UN Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) announced in 2013 the destruction of the chemical arsenal of the Syrian regime in full, it is certain that the regime still retains part of that arsenal for use against civilians. “Today, quantities of sarin and gas Chlorine from the regime’s warehouses were dropped on civilians, which observers considered a process of collusion between the organization and the regime, or that the latter follows the policy of circumventing the international community to maintain its chemical arsenal and use in areas out of its control”, according to experts.

Former Security Council President Matthew Raikroft: "The road in the Security Council is now blocked to hold Assad accountable for using chemical weapons, and yesterday we saw the use of the veto, but we will not give up."

Turkey condemns the massacre and opens its borders to the injured

The role of the Turkish neighbor emerged hours after the massacre. The management of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing stopped the movement of cargo at the crossing, allowing the injured to receive special rooms and allowing the Syrian vehicles to cross into Turkish territory to speed up the evacuation.

Politically, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has assured Russian President Putin not to accept chemical attacks against civilians in Syria, saying that the attacks would undermine all efforts within the framework of the Astana process to consolidate the cease-fire in Syria.

The Turkish foreign minister " Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu" asserted his country's condemnation of such attacks, and they may impede the peace talks that are working in Kazakhstan’s "Astana".

Russia denies attacks on Khan Shaikhoun and pro Assad regime’s journalists describe it as a "game"

Russian Defense Ministry denied hours after the massacre committed that the Syrian fighter jets to launch any air strikes on Khan Shaikhoun in rural Idlib.

Russian Defense added: "Russian military aircraft have not carried out any air strikes near Khan Shaikhoun in Idlib province."

On the other hand, the director of Al-Alam television channel in Syria described what happened as a game and a scenario similar to the Turkish series and TV shows. He continued sarcastically: "Chemical toy and poisonous substances and gathering children after poisoning them has become old game and a scenario like the Turkish series."

It should be noted that the Syrian National Coalition called on the Security Council to activate Article 21 of Security Council resolution 2118, which states that "in case the regime does not comply with the resolution, including the transfer or use of chemical weapons, measures are imposed under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations ".

 

Finally, the chemical massacre that hit Khan Shaikhoun was not the first of its kind. It was preceded by several strikes, which began in 2013 until now. Despite the media hype and the political statements calling for the accountability of the regime, it seems that until now there is no real international resolution to end the tragedy of civilians and put an end to the Regime’s crimes against the Syrian people.