UN confirms sarin was used in Syria attack

UN chemical investigators on Monday confirmed the use of sarin nerve agent in an August 21 poison gas attack outside the Syrian capital in a long-awaited report that the United States, Britain and France said proved government forces were responsible.

“This is the most significant confirmed use of chemical weapons against civilians since Saddam Hussein used them in Halabja (Iraq) in 1988,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. “The international community has pledged to prevent any such horror from recurring, yet it has happened again.”

The UN team was investigating only whether chemical weapons were used in a deadly assault on the opposition-held Damascus suburb of Ghouta. The report does not say who launched the attack, though US, British and French envoys said technical details in it pointed to government culpability.

“On the basis of the evidence obtained during the investigation of the Ghouta incident, the conclusion is that chemical weapons have been used in the ongoing conflict between the parties in the Syrian Arab Republic, also against civilians, including children, on a relatively large scale,” said the report by chief UN investigator Ake Sellstrom of Sweden.