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Syria Is Using Chemical Weapons Again, Rescue Workers Say

(New York Times) Anne Barnard and Somini Sengupta - Two years after President Assad agreed to dismantle Syria's chemical weapons stockpile, there is mounting evidence that his government is dropping chlorine bombs on insurgent-held areas. Lately, the pace of the bombardments in contested areas like Idlib Province has picked up, rescue workers say. "We know the sound of a helicopter that goes to a low height and drops a barrel," said Hatem Abu Marwan, 29, a rescue worker with the White Helmets civil defense organization who has responded to nine suspected chlorine attacks. "Nobody has aircraft except the regime." Prodded by the U.S., the UN Security Council is discussing a draft resolution that would create a panel to determine who is responsible for using chlorine as a weapon. With many civilian uses, like purifying water or disinfecting hospitals, chlorine is not banned under international law and thus was not on the list of chemicals that Assad promised to destroy.
2015-05-07 00:00:00
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