Use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war

The US has reportedly begun an investigation into whether Russia is linked to the suspected chemical attack in Syria's Idlib, which Washington claims was carried out by Damascus. It comes after Russia condemned the US strike on a Syrian air base, which killed six people.

The United Nations failed on April 6 to produce a resolution for the second time in two days regarding the Syrian gas attack on April 4, which killed at least 86, many of them children, in the town of Khan Sheikhoun near Idlib, in the northwest of the country, because of objections by Russia, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.

The initials findings collected from autopsies conducted on three Syrians who died after being brought to Turkey for treatment after a suspected chemical gas attack in Syria's northern Idlib province suggests sarin gas was used in the attack, the Turkish Health Ministry said April 6. 

Autopsy results show that chemical weapons were used in the April 4 attack in Syria's Idlib, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ has stated.

Turkey sent a report to the United Nations just before a U.N. Security Council meeting to address accusations that the Syrian government staged a chemical weapons attack on April 4, stating that the gas used in the attack was chlorine gas. 

Victims of a suspected chemical attack in Syria appeared to show symptoms consistent with reaction to a nerve agent, the World Health Organization said on April 5. 

"Some cases appear to show additional signs consistent with exposure to organophosphorus chemicals, a category of chemicals that includes nerve agents," WHO said in a statement, putting the death toll at at least 70.

The death toll from a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held Syrian town has risen to 72, 20 of them children, a monitoring group said on Wednesday, cited by AFP.

"There were also 17 women among the dead and the death toll could rise further because there are people missing," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Syria's air force carried out the September 2016 raid that killed at least 10 aid workers in Aleppo province by deliberately targeting a humanitarian convoy, a U.N.-backed probe said on March 1.  

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on August 9 warned against what he called unfounded claims that Syria has chemical weapons, as the United Nations Security Council investigates deadly chlorine gas attacks.

The U.N. Security Council is expected to unanimously approve a resolution on August 7 aimed at identifying those responsible for using chlorine and other chemical weapons in attacks in Syria that have killed and injured a growing number of civilians.