Use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war

The global chemical weapons watchdog on April 8 for the first time explicitly blamed Syria for toxic attacks, saying President Bashar al-Assad's air force used the nerve gas sarin and chlorine three times in 2017.    

Some of the people who had to flee the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun, where at least 100 people were reportedly killed in a chemical weapons attack in April, in southern Idlib, just 130 kilometers from Turkey’s Cilvegözü border crossing on the Syrian border, are now going back to their hometown. Click through for the story in photos by Hürriyet's Fevzi Kızılkoyun...

The Turkish defense minister and intelligence chief visited Russia's coastal city of Sochi on Nov. 20 for high-level talks with officials on Syria's Idlib.

The moderate Syrian opposition should be part of the political solution in Idlib, Turkey’s president told Russian newspaper, Kommersant, on Sept.  23.

Chemical weapons are being prepared by the Syrian regime, which is set to launch an offensive on the northwestern province of Idlib, U.S. special representative for Syria James Jeffrey said Sept. 6.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sept. 4 Russian war planes had resumed air strikes on Syria's rebel-held Idlib province after a 22-day break.

Russia's Ministry of Defense said on Thursday it would hold naval exercises in the Mediterranean Sea from Sept. 1 to Sept. 8 and that 25 vessels and 30 planes would take part, the TASS news agency reported.

The ministry said the drills would involve carrying out anti-aircraft, anti-submarine and anti-mining exercises.

Russia has "full political understanding" with Turkey over the issues surrounding Syria's Idlib, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

Russia has said Syrian rebels are preparing a chemical attack in Idlib province which will be blamed on Damascus and used as a pretext for Western powers to hit government targets in the war-torn country.

A number of military positions of the Bashar al-Assad regime were hit late on April 29 by rockets in Syria's Hama and Aleppo provinces, according to the regime's official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).