US Accuses Assad Regime of Using Chemical Weapons in May Attack
The United States has concluded that the Syrian government used chlorine in the attack on opposition forces in Idlib on May 19, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Thursday
IsraelDefense
| 27/09/2019
Idlib, Syria (Photo: AP)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Thursday that US intelligence has concluded the Syrian government used chemical weapons in an attack earlier this year in Idlib.
“Today I am announcing that the United States has concluded that the Assad regime used chlorine as a chemical weapon on May 19,” Pompeo said at a news conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
“This attack was part of the Assad regime’s ongoing violent campaign in Idlib, which has killed more than 1,000 innocent Syrians and displaced hundreds of thousands more,” Pompeo added. “It is also the latest instance in a long pattern of Assad’s chemical weapons attacks that have killed or wounded thousands of Syrians.”
In May, the US said it had received numerous reports that appeared consistent with chemical exposure after an attack by Syrian government forces in northwest Syria, but it had made no definitive conclusion as to whether they used chemical weapons.
“The United States will not allow these attacks to go unchallenged nor will we tolerate those who choose to conceal these atrocities,” Pompeo told reporters. “The United States will continue to pressure the insidious Assad regime to end the violence directed at Syrian civilians and participate in the UN-led political process.”
The Secretary of State also announced an additional $4.5 million contribution by the US to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons “to help its investigations of continued chemical weapons use in Syria.”
The Trump administration has twice bombed Syria over Assad’s suspected use of chemical weapons – in April 2017 and April 2018.
The United States, Britain, and France launched missile strikes in April 2018 against what they described as three Syrian chemical weapons targets in retaliation for a suspected gas attack that killed dozens of people in the city of Douma earlier that month.
[Sources: CNN, Fox News, CNBC]
The United States has concluded that the Syrian government used chlorine in the attack on opposition forces in Idlib on May 19, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Thursday
Idlib, Syria (Photo: AP)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Thursday that US intelligence has concluded the Syrian government used chemical weapons in an attack earlier this year in Idlib.
“Today I am announcing that the United States has concluded that the Assad regime used chlorine as a chemical weapon on May 19,” Pompeo said at a news conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
“This attack was part of the Assad regime’s ongoing violent campaign in Idlib, which has killed more than 1,000 innocent Syrians and displaced hundreds of thousands more,” Pompeo added. “It is also the latest instance in a long pattern of Assad’s chemical weapons attacks that have killed or wounded thousands of Syrians.”
In May, the US said it had received numerous reports that appeared consistent with chemical exposure after an attack by Syrian government forces in northwest Syria, but it had made no definitive conclusion as to whether they used chemical weapons.
“The United States will not allow these attacks to go unchallenged nor will we tolerate those who choose to conceal these atrocities,” Pompeo told reporters. “The United States will continue to pressure the insidious Assad regime to end the violence directed at Syrian civilians and participate in the UN-led political process.”
The Secretary of State also announced an additional $4.5 million contribution by the US to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons “to help its investigations of continued chemical weapons use in Syria.”
The Trump administration has twice bombed Syria over Assad’s suspected use of chemical weapons – in April 2017 and April 2018.
The United States, Britain, and France launched missile strikes in April 2018 against what they described as three Syrian chemical weapons targets in retaliation for a suspected gas attack that killed dozens of people in the city of Douma earlier that month.
[Sources: CNN, Fox News, CNBC]
