US holding Russia responsible for chemical weapons in Syria

WARSAW: U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Saturday the United States believed it was Russia’s responsibility to curb Syria’s use of chemical weapons.

“The chemical weapons … are being used to hit the civilian population, the most vulnerable – children inside of Syria,” he said on a visit to Poland

“We are holding Russia (responsible) for addressing this. They are (Syria‘s) ally.”

Twenty-four nations approved a new “partnership against impunity” for the use of chemical weapons, just a day after reports they were used in an attack that sickened 21 people in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta, which Tillerson said was suspected to involve chlorine.

“Whoever conducted the attacks, Russia ultimately bears responsibility for the victims in East Ghouta and countless other Syrians targeted with chemical weapons since Russia became involved in Syria,” Tillerson said after the international meeting in Paris, and ahead of further talks with ministers from several countries on ending the conflict.

“There is simply no denying that Russia, by shielding its Syrian ally, has breached its commitments to the US as a framework guarantor” overseeing the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles, as agreed in September 2013, he added.

Despite its pledge to destroy such weapons, the Syrian regime has been repeatedly accused of staging chemical attacks, with the UN among those blaming it for an April 2017 sarin gas attack on the opposition-held village of Khan Sheikhun which left scores dead.