Mustard gas was used during summer fighting in Syria, but it was not clear by whom, the global chemical weapons watchdog said on Thursday, while militants seized a key town from regime forces.
The deadly gas was used in the flashpoint town of Marea in the northern province of Aleppo on Aug. 21, a source from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said.
“We have determined the facts, but we have not determined who was responsible,” the source said.
Photo: AFP
Allegations that militants have been using chemical arms have been increasing in recent months in both Iraq and Syria.
Syrian rebels and aid groups said that at the end of August dozens of people were affected by a chemical attack on Marea, where moderate opposition rebels and militants from the Islamic State group were battling.
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said it had treated four civilians from one family. Patients at an MSF hospital in Aleppo said they saw a “yellow gas” when a mortar round hit their house.
Meanwhile, bolstered by a Russian air campaign launched in September, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have been fighting to retake territory lost to rebels in the nation’s brutal four-year war, but have failed to make significant gains.
On Thursday a militant faction, Jund al-Aqsa, was reported to have seized the last government-held town on the main highway between Syria’s second city Aleppo to the north and the city of Hama to the south.
They “seized full control of the town of Morek after a fierce offensive,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group.
Jund al-Aqsa boasted of the victory in Morek on its Twitter account, but a Syrian security source insisted fighting was ongoing and denied a major setback.
Morek has changed hands several times in the conflict, with government troops last retaking it in October last year.
Last month, Syrian troops launched a major fightback in Hama province with Russian air support, with the main Aleppo highway a main objective.
It was one of a number of counteroffensives the Damascus regime has launched since Moscow intervened.
Regime forces scored a rare win on Wednesday, recapturing from Islamic State an alternative route further east that provides the government’s sole link to neighborhoods of Aleppo under its control.
Advancing Islamic State forces had severed the road last month, cutting off food and supplies to tens of thousands of civilians in the west of Aleppo. For the first time since Islamic State had cut the road, trucks of fruits and vegetables arrived in regime-held neighborhoods of the city, residents said.
Islamic State has continued advancing in various parts of Syria, despite the Russian airstrikes and more than a year of air raids targeting the group by a US-led coalition.
On Thursday, the observatory said that at least 22 civilians were killed along with several Islamic State fighters in air raids on the Syrian town of Bukamal, near the Iraqi border, but did not say which nation carried out the strikes.
Russia said its air force carried out strikes near the Islamic State-held ancient city of Palmyra, bringing to 263 the number of targets Russian jets have hit in the past two days.
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
RSS