Chemical Attack In Syria Update: Russia Blames Syrian Airstrike For Targeting A Terrorist Chemical Lab

A day after one of the worst chemical bombings killed scores of people, including children, in the northwestern province of Syria, Idlib Tuesday, the Russian Defence Ministry has said the strikes were conducted by Syrian warplanes. The Syrian aviation carried out an airstrike on the eastern outskirts of Khan Sheikhun that targeted a chemical weapon manufacturing lab, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry said, TASS reported.

"According to Russian airspace monitoring systems, yesterday between 11.30 and 12.30 local time the Syrian aviation carried out an airstrike on the eastern outskirts of Khan Sheikhun, targeting a major ammunition storage facility of terrorists and a cluster of military hardware. The territory of this storage facility housed workshops to produce projectiles stuffed with toxic agents," Major General Igor Konashenkov said, according to TASS.

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The official said the chemical warehouse was a hub of terrorist activities and chemical-laden weapons were delivered by militants to Iraq from there. Use of those chemicals by the terrorists was even confirmed on several occasions by international organizations and official authorities of the country.

The spokesman also said that Tuesday's deadly chemical attack resembled that of Syria's Aleppo attacks in November 2016 that continued till February this year.

Reports had surfaced in February highlighting how Syrian government forces used chemical weapons in rebel-held areas of Aleppo toward the end of the battle to recapture the city. The chemical weapons had killed nine people and injured hundreds more, according to Human Rights Watch.

The Chemical Weapons Convention, administered by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, came into force on April 29, 1997. 192 states have committed to eliminate an entire category of weapons of mass destruction by prohibiting the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, transfer or use of chemical weapons by States Parties, according to the official OPCW website.

Syria had joined the convention and had ended its chemical weapons program in 2013. However, that commitment has not stopped its government forces from carrying out frequent chemical attacks. Human Rights Watch has documented Syrian government helicopters dropping canisters filled with chlorine in dozens of cases, according to Human Rights Watch.