Formal international investigations haven’t yet begun on a suspected gas attack against the Idlib Province in northwestern Syria, but US, British, and French officials are all clear on their narrative: that the attack was a deliberate deployment of chemical weapons by the Assad government.
The Syrian military had already denied the allegations, though each nation’s leadership insisted that they remain determined to hold the government “accountable” and that the incident once again proves that President Assad cannot be allowed to remain in power.
Syrian opposition figures were quick to blame the United States for the incident, saying it was the result of administration officials suggesting last week that the “political reality” was that Assad could remain in power. the US, of course, had already disavowed that.
The Russian Defense Ministry told a different story, saying that the Idlib airstrike was a conventional strike, which hit a rebel ammo dump which was holding chemical weapons. Though ISIS is known to have chemical weapons, ISIS is not believed to have territory near where the strike took place.
