At least 70 people were killed in Douma, in Syria’s Eastern town of Ghouta in a suspected chemical attack on Sunday. Eastern Ghouta, an area east of the capital Damascus, has been the focus of a fierce offensive by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces in recent weeks. Ghouta Media Centre said over 75 people had “suffocated” while a further thousand people had suffered. It blamed a barrel bomb allegedly dropped by a helicopter which it said contained sarin, a toxic nerve agent. Many of the victims of a nerve gas attack were women and young children who suffocated in moments. The shocking images of dead children lying on the floor of a building went viral on social media portraying disastrous consequences and devastating impact of war on children in the region. Though the Syrian government has denied the allegations, however after condemning Iran and Russia for backing Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria the US president Donald Trump tweeted that there would be a “big price to pay” in connection with what he called a “mindless chemical attack”. In response to the alleged attack, a US State Department official told CNN: “We have seen multiple, very disturbing reports… The (Syrian) regime’s history of using chemical weapons against its own people (is) not in dispute…
Amid escalating tension the Russian foreign ministry issued a statement warning: “It is necessary to once again caution that military intervention under false and fabricated pretexts in Syria, where the Russian servicemen stay at the request of the legitimate government, is absolutely unacceptable and may trigger the gravest consequences. On the other hand Syrian government had rebuffed the reports regarding the use of chemical weapons saying the reports were a blatant attempt to hinder the army’s advance into the “collapsing terrorist” stronghold.
It may be recalled here that in April 2017, more than 80 people were killed in a sarin attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun an attack that prompted the US to launch 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase. In August 2013, rockets containing sarin were fired at rebel-held areas of Eastern Ghouta, killing hundreds. Sarin is a lethal poison with no taste, no smell and no colour that makes it one of the most murderous weapons in modern warfare. Amid claim and counter-claim, it is impossible to verify as who is or is not involved in this dastardly attack but one thing is clear that such kind of attacks are totally unacceptable and use of chemical weapons against civilians is serious crime and any one whosoever is involved should be held accountable at international level. It is imperative that an independent investigation under the auspicious of United Nations should be held to prevent future war crimes and the crimes being committed against humanity in Syria. Rather than protecting their respective strategic interests in the region the world powers should engage with Syrian government and work out a comprehensive plan to put an immediate end to deadly violence that had claimed thousands of precious lives.
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