Russian and western dispute over Syria chemical attack further muddies truth

An increasingly bitter dispute between Russia and the west over an inquiry into the recent chemical weapons attack that killed about 80 people in Syria has revealed the extent to which the two sides are unable to agree on basic facts – or even agree a process to ascertain the truth. The row has also brought into questions of future international support for the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the internationally respected multilateral body responsible for overseeing control of chemical weapons. OPCW leadership said Thursday it had found incontrovertible proof that sarin gas or a similar substance had been released, but did not reach a view on responsibility for its deployment. At the meeting in the Hague the OPCW executive rejected a Russian-led plan for an OPCW investigation to be restarted, prompting Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov to claim that the west was not interested in the truth of the incident – only in finding excuses to oust President Bashar al-Assad from power. 'The dead were wherever you looked': inside Syrian town after gas attack Read more The west has blamed the Syrian air force for the attack on Khan Sheikhun area in southern Idlib on 4 April to which Donald Trump responded with cruise missile attacks that led to the destruction of more than 20 Syrian warplanes. It was the most decisive US military intervention since the war began, and raised the question whether America will launch fresh attacks if evidence of further chemical weapons emerges. Russia, meanwhile, has variously claimed that Syrian opposition fighters may have mounted a false flag operation, and that Syrian air force bombed opposition targets where munitions filled with poisonous substances were being made. Following a meeting with the EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini on Monday, Lavrov again called for the OPCW to send its experts to Khan Sheikhoun and the Shayrat airfield to look into the alleged chemical incident.

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