Civil society groups in the town of Khan Sheikoun in rural Idlib on Thursday organized a sit-in to mark 100 days since the deadly chemical attack launched by Assad’s forces on the town and which left around 400 civilians killed or wounded.
Survivors of the attack and families of the victims as well as members of the local council participated in the sit-in. Participants raised placards condemning the silence of the international community over the massacre and banners that read “Assad is a war criminal” and “you only killed the fear in us.”
At a press conference held after the sit-in, the local council praised efforts made by the civil defense and medical workers to aid victims of the attack. Head of the council Mohammed Ahmed Mirati said that an international investigation committee has spoken with the council to reach the site of the attack via regime-controlled areas. However, the council refused that the suggestion out of its realization that the Assad regime would allow the committee to pass through only on the condition that the results of the investigation come out in its favor.
On April 4, warplanes of the Assad regime targeted the town of Khan Sheikhoun with the sarin nerve agent, killing 100 civilians, mostly women and children and injuring around 270 more.
The attack triggered an international outrage and prompted missiles strikes by the United States on the Shairat airbase in rural Homs from where the planes took off.
France said that the report by the world’s chemical weapons watchdog on the attack confirming sarin was used was “unequivocal” and that the conclusions of the report were “indisputable.”
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said he has “absolutely no doubt the finger points at the Assad regime.”
After interviewing witnesses and examining samples, a fact- finding mission (FFM) of The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) concluded that “a large number of people, some of whom died, were exposed to sarin or a sarin-like substance” in the attack on Khan Sheikhoun. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department+ Agencies)
