The regime in Syria allegedly used chlorine gas in an attack against rebels. According to a US investigation, "the Assad regime deployed chlorine gas on 19 May as a chemical weapon in an attack in Latakia province in Syria," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.
The attack was part of the violent crackdown by Syrian troops against rebels in the Idlib region. There, Russian jets support the Syrian armed forces from the air. The US had announced a few days after the attack, to pursue evidence of chemical weapons use.
Pompeo said the attack in Latakia was part of the long series of chemical weapons deployments by Assad's government that injured or killed thousands of Syrians. The US would provide the Organization for Prohibiting Chemical Weapons with an additional $ 4.5 to investigate chemical weapons deployment in Syria, the US Secretary of State said.
In addition, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on a company that supplies jet kerosene to Russian troops in Syria, thereby violating US sanctions. The affected company Maritime Assistance LLC is an offshoot of the Russian group OJSC Sovfracht, said the Ministry. Sanctions had already been imposed on the company because of operations in the Ukrainian-Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia.
It is estimated that around three million civilians live in the Idlib region of northwestern Syria, more than half of them displaced. Neighboring Turkey fears a new wave of refugees should the situation continue to escalate there. The area is controlled by the terrorist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Assad's government justifies the attacks with the "fight against terror".
