THE HAGUE: A global watchdog said Wednesday it is probing "all credible allegations" of the use of chemical weapons in Syria, amid mounting reports they are allegedly being deployed by Damascus.
The accusations "continue to be of grave concern," the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said.
A fact-finding mission mandated "to establish the facts surrounding allegations of the use of toxic chemicals.... is investigating all credible allegations," the body said in a statement.
The latest fighting in Syria's seven-year-old civil war has seen an uptick in the alleged use of chemical weapons by the regime, including on the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta.
The fresh violence has sparked wide concern and drawn threats of military action from the United States.
"Any use of chemical weapons is a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and the hard-won international norm prohibiting these weapons," said OPCW chief Ahmet Uzumcu.
"Those responsible for their use must be held accountable. These abhorrent weapons have no place in the world today."
France said Wednesday that "all indications" suggested the Syrian regime was using chlorine weapons against rebel forces.
And the United States on Monday accused Russia of delaying the adoption of a UN Security Council condemnation of reported chlorine gas attacks in Syria that have left many injured, including children, in recent days.
US Ambassador Nikki Haley told the council there was "obvious evidence from dozens of victims" to corroborate the chlorine attacks in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta.
The OPCW's fact-finding mission was set up in April 2014, and its reports were sent to a joint UN and OPCW panel, known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM).
The JIM sought to identify those behind the deadly attacks, but the renewal of its UN mandate has been blocked since November by Russia.
A previous JIM probe however found that Syrian forces were responsible for an April 2016 sarin attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun that killed scores of people.
The panel found that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces had used chlorine in two attacks on rebel-held villages in 2014 and 2015.
It also determined that Daesh militants had used mustard gas in 2015 in the country.
OPCW probing 'all credible' reports of Syria chemical attacks
OPCW probing 'all credible' reports of Syria chemical attacks
Gazans mourn six killed in Israeli shelling on shelter
- In a statement on Saturday, Hamas denounced “a brutal crime committed against innocent civilians and a flagrant, recurring violation of the ceasefire agreement”
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Dozens of Palestinians gathered at a Gaza City hospital on Saturday to mourn six people, including children, that the civil defense said were killed by the Israeli shelling of a shelter for displaced people.
The Israeli military said late on Friday that troops had fired at “suspicious individuals to eliminate the threat,” adding that it was reviewing the incident and “regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals.”
Gaza’s civil defense agency, which operates as a rescue force under Hamas authority, initially said on Friday that the Israeli shelling of a school-turned-shelter killed five people in the Tuffah neighborhood east of Gaza City.
Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal updated the toll to six, including children, on Saturday, adding that two people were unaccounted for under the rubble.
The director of Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, told AFP the victims were a four-month old infant, a 14-year-old girl, two men and two women.
Inside the hospital’s morgue on Saturday, relatives peered beneath blankets to get a last glimpse of their loved ones.
Outside, a grief-stricken man clutched an infant’s body wrapped in a white shroud, AFP footage showed.
Five other body bags were laid out on the ground as mourners prayed over the dead.
“This is not a truce, it is a bloodbath,” said Nafiz Al-Nader, who witnessed the attack.
“We want the bloodshed to stop and we don’t want to lose our loved ones every day,” he told AFP.
‘Flagrant, recurring violation’
In its statement on Friday, the Israeli military said: “During operational activity in the area of the Yellow line in the northern Gaza Strip, a number of suspicious individuals were identified in command structures west of the Yellow line.”
Under the US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Israeli forces have withdrawn to positions east of the so-called Yellow Line.
“Shortly after identification, the troops fired at the suspicious individuals to eliminate the threat,” the military said, adding that it was “aware of the claim regarding casualties in the area, and the details are under review.”
Abdullah Al-Nader, who lost his relatives, told AFP that the shelling suddenly erupted in the evening.
“It was a safe area and a safe school and suddenly... they began firing shells without warning, targeting women, children and civilians,” he said.
In a statement on Saturday, Hamas denounced “a brutal crime committed against innocent civilians and a flagrant, recurring violation of the ceasefire agreement.”
The Palestinian Islamist movement urged the ceasefire mediators and US President Donald Trump’s administration “to assume their responsibilities regarding these violations and intervene immediately.”
The ceasefire remains fragile with both sides alleging violations, and mediators fearing that both Israel and Hamas are stalling.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday that at least 401 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the territory since the ceasefire came into effect on October 10.
Israel has also repeatedly accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire, with the military reporting three soldiers killed in the territory since the truce entered into force.
