Syrian military linked to more than 300 chemical attacks, report says
Louisa Loveluck at the Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/syrian-military-linked-to-more-than-300-chemical-attacks-report-says/2019/02/16/c6e128de-31d4-11e9-ac6c-14eea99d5e24_story.html?utm_term=.3d51b55b4cf0
"SNIP....
Almost all the attacks — 98 percent — were attributed to Assad’s military or allied forces, including loyalist militias known as the Tiger Forces that also have the backing of Russia. The rest of the attacks were attributed to the Islamic State, which once held major parts of Syria.
......
“The Assad regime did not merely ‘get away’ with its use of these banned weapons,” said the report. “It succeeded in using them for strategic ends.”
With Syria’s rebels on the verge of defeat and their former Gulf Arab backers reopening embassies in Damascus, Assad appears to be moving out of diplomatic isolation.
The United States remains a staunch opponent of Assad, although Washington holds little leverage over Syria. President Trump announced last month plans to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria. Trump’s claims that the Islamic State has been defeated, however, have brought sharp criticism from even political allies.
....SNIP"
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