Suspected chemical attack death toll now at 72

Trump is calling the attack “an affront to humanity” and says, “These heinous actions by the Assad regime can not be tolerated”. At that time, Washington said Assad had crossed a “red line” set by then-President Barack Obama. But regime change had its drawbacks, too, because it would require significant USA military force and potentially leave a vacuum that could be filled by al-Qaida-linked and other extremist fighters among the opposition.

Bahram Qasemi, a spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said the country “strongly condemns” the use of chemical weapons in Syria “regardless of the perpetrators and the victims”. The Department of State later released an official statement condemning it.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson issued an appeal for Russian Federation and Iran “to exercise their influence over the Syrian regime and to guarantee that this sort of horrific attack never happens again”.

“Those outside backers who are said to be guarantors of the [Assad] regime obviously have a lot to answer for”, the State Department official said, referring to Russian Federation and Iran, which have provided military backing for Assad.

Feras, the doctor who witnessed the aftermath of the attack, expressed deep frustration with the global community for failing to hold the Syrian regime to account for its atrocities. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel called on Russian Federation to endorse a planned Security Council resolution condemning the attack.

France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault earlier called for an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting over the attack, which he described as “monstrous”. More than 50 civilians, including women and children, were killed and about 300 others wounded by what appears to be nerve gas – a weapon banned by the civilized world.

A suspected chemical attack in a town in Syria’s rebel-held northern Idlib province killed dozens of people on Tuesday.

Reuters reported diplomats as saying they would likely put it to a vote on Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump also blamed the Assad regime, saying the attack was “reprehensible and can not be ignored by the civilised world”.

“We will not win against Isil in Syria without ending the civil war, and we will not end the civil war if we sit idly by as civilians are gassed”. “They had been asleep”.

The Syrian military has categorically denied responsibility for the latest attack.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused the Syrian government of conducting at least eight chemical attacks using chlorine gas on opposition-controlled residential areas during the final months of the battle for Aleppo previous year that killed at least nine civilians and injured 200.

Muneer, a schoolteacher who lives in Khan Sheikhoun, said he was alone at home when he heard the attack. I will tell you.

Tuesday’s attack took place in Khan Sheikhun, where there are thousands of refugees from the nearby province of Hama who have fled recent fighting. Critics pointed to tweets by Mr Trump dating back to 2013 that urged the United States government to ignore Syria and focus on domestic problems. “They warned me that I would faint if I came close”, he said, “so I stopped walking”. Tuesday’s attack cast new doubt on the peace process, said the opposition’s chief negotiator Mohamad Sabra.

Speaking to AFP, medic Hazem Shehwan said victims were suffering from symptoms including “pinpoint pupils, convulsions, foaming at the mouth and rapid pulses”. Makeshift hospitals soon crowded with people suffocating, they said.

The Syrian Coalition, an umbrella opposition group, compared the suspected chemical attack with one in Eastern Ghouta in 2013 “that the worldwide community allowed to pass without accountability or punishment”.

“It was a disgusting scene”. Save the Children said at least 11 children were among the casualties.

The “Brussels Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region”, co-chaired by the UN and the governments of Germany, Kuwait, Norway, Qatar and the United Kingdom, is to be held in Brussels on April 4 and 5.

The Syrian army could not immediately be reached for comment on the reported airstrikes in Khan Sheikhoun.

In the wake of the 2013 attack, President Bashar Assad agreed to a Russia-sponsored deal to destroy his chemical arsenal and joined the Chemical Weapons Convention.

As well as those killed, at least 160 people were injured, it said, and many died even after arriving at medical facilities. The ministry’s spokesman, Major-General Igor Konashenkov, said they had verified and objective information that the munitions produced and stored at the warehouse contained chemical payloads and were being sent to Iraq, where they were repeatedly used by militants.