“The use of chemical weapons is absolutely inadmissible,” Mr. Peskov said, adding
that the Syrian Army must act to “prevent any chemical agents that can be used as weapons from falling into the terrorists’ hands.”
Later on Thursday, however, Mr. Peskov said that the Russian government supported a full investigation into the attack and
that the Kremlin’s support for Mr. Assad’s government was “not unconditional.”
The Russian-Syrian posture came under immediate attack from Western leaders, including President
Trump, who had urged his predecessor, Mr. Obama, in 2013 not to intervene in Syria.
Banned Nerve Agent Sarin Used in Syria Chemical Attack, Turkey Says -
By PATRICK KINGSLEY and ANNE BARNARDAPRIL 6, 2017
ISTANBUL — The poison used in the deadly chemical bomb attack in a rebel-held part of northern Syria this
week was the banned nerve agent sarin, the Turkish Health Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
“According to the results of preliminary tests,” the statement said, “patients were exposed to chemical material (Sarin).”
Western countries have accused the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad of carrying out the chemical attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib Province, which left scores dead
and hundreds sickened in one of the worst atrocities so far in the six-year-old Syria war.
