WARSAW: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Saturday said he stands by his claim that Russia bears responsibility for recent chemical attacks in Syria, despite strong denials from Moscow.
“These are just unacceptable deployments of chemicals in ways that violate all conventions which Russia itself has signed up for. It violates agreements that Russia undertook to be responsible for identifying and eliminating the chemical weapons inside of Syria,” Tillerson said during a visit to Warsaw.
“The chemical weapons are clearly there, they’re being used against civilian populations — and the most vulnerable are children — inside of Syria,” Tillerson told reporters, in a joint press conference with Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz.
“So we are holding Russia responsible for addressing this. They are (Syrian President Bashar) Assad’s ally. They are members of those conventions and they made commitments. They need to deliver on those commitments.”
Tillerson first made the accusations on Tuesday, as diplomats from 29 countries met in Paris to push for sanctions and criminal charges against the perpetrators of the chemical attacks in Syria.
Russia and China have blocked Western-backed efforts at the UN to impose sanctions on Damascus over their use.
On Wednesday, Russia lashed out at Tillerson for having “hastily accused the Syrian — as they call it — ‘regime’ for the attack in Eastern Ghouta,” adding “now they are trying to drag Russia into this as well.”
Damascus has been repeatedly accused of using chemical weapons, with the UN among those blaming regime forces for an April 2017 sarin gas attack on the opposition-held village of Khan Sheikhun that left scores dead.
There have been at least 130 separate chemical weapons attacks in Syria since 2012, according to French estimates, with Daesh also accused of using mustard gas in Syria and Iraq.
On Monday, Moscow will hold negotiations in the Russian city of Sochi aimed at ending Syria’s civil war.
Tillerson insists Russia to blame for Syria chemical attacks
Tillerson insists Russia to blame for Syria chemical attacks
Berlin says plans to host Sudan aid conference
- The conference would be held around the anniversary of the2023 outbreak of the civil war in April
- Previous Sudan aid conferences were held in Paris in 2024 and London in 2025
BERLIN: Germany plans to host a Sudan aid conference in the spring to raise emergency relief funds for the war-torn country, the foreign ministry said on Friday.
Brutal fighting between Sudanese government forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has devastated the country, with reports of atrocities, starvation and mass killings.
“Today, the world commemorates a sad date: 1,000 days of war in Sudan,” a foreign ministry spokeswoman said. “Far too many people continue to suffer and die there, victims of hunger, thirst, displacement and rape.”
The conference would be held around the anniversary of the 2023 outbreak of the civil war in April, the spokeswoman said.
Previous Sudan aid conferences were held in Paris in 2024 and London in 2025.
“The world’s largest humanitarian crisis has already driven millions of civilians into poverty and many tens of thousands to their deaths,” the spokeswoman said.
“Germany is doing everything in its power, both politically and in humanitarian terms, to help the people on the ground and to end the fighting.”
International calls for a ceasefire have so far failed to halt the fighting between Sudan’s army-aligned government and the RSF, which is descended from the Janjaweed militias accused of genocide in Darfur two decades ago.
Both sides have faced war crimes accusations over the course of the conflict.
