?Assad will be judged as a war criminal?
 

Chemical arms used in Idlib attack: Turkey

PARIS: French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Thursday that "a day will come when international justice will give its verdict on Bashar al-Assad who is massacring his people."

Speaking to news channel CNEWS, he added: "These crimes must **t go unpunished. In any case, there are investigations, United Nations commissions... there will be a war crimes trial."

At least 86 people were killed on Tuesday in rebel-held Khan Sheikhun in **rthern Syria in a suspected chemical attack that left people choking and foaming at the mouth.

France is again pushing for a resolution at the United Nations to condemn the attack blamed by the West on Assad’s regime, but Ayrault did **t sound optimistic after the first discussions on Wednesday at the international body.

"It’s difficult because up to **w every time we have presented a resolution, there has been a veto by Russia and sometimes by China ... but we must cooperate because we need to stop this massacre," he added.

Moscow, which launched a military intervention in 2015 in support of Assad’s forces, has defended the Syrian government against accusations it is responsible for the attack.

Meanwhile, Turkey said on Thursday the autopsies of three Syrians killed in an attack in rebel-held **rthwestern Syria confirmed that chemical ******* had been used by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, state media reported.

"Autopsies were carried out on three of the bodies after they were brought from Idlib. The results of the autopsy confirms that chemical ******* were used," Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said, quoted by state-run Anadolu news agency.

"This scientific investigation also confirms that Assad used chemical *******," Bozdag added, without giving further details.

Some 60 injured Syrians were brought to southern Turkey for medical treatment, Dogan news agency said on Thursday, but three of them died in hospital.

At least 86 people were killed early on Tuesday in Khan Sheikhun and dozens more were being treated after they were found convulsing and foaming at the mouth.

Bozdag said autopsies were conducted with the "participation" of officials from the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the southern province of Adana together with officials from Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical ******* (OPCW).

But WHO immediately countered Bozdag’s claims that it was involved in the postmortem, saying the organisation did **t conduct autopsies, adding: "It is **t our mandate."

WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told AFP in Geneva that "a WHO person was there at the time of the autopsy but had ** role in the autopsy or investigation". He also stressed that ** samples or swabs had been taken by WHO despite claims by the Adana prosecutor that "examples" had been sent to the organisation and the OPCW.

In a statement, the prosecutor, quoted by Anadolu said: "For analysis, examples were taken and sent to medical institutions. Separately, following requests from the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical *******, examples were given to them."

The wounded had been brought from Idlib through Turkey’s Cilvegozu border gate for the treatment in the Reyhanli district of Hatay province.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a vocal critic of Assad, called the Syrian president a "murderer" on Wednesday after de**uncing the world’s "silence" on the deaths.

Russia, Assad’s main ally, has said a Syrian air strike had hit a "terrorist warehouse" but Erdogan has yet to make any reference to the Russian claim.

Moscow has been one of the regime’s biggest supporters together with Iran while Turkey has given support to Syrian opposition fighters.

Ankara last month said it "successfully completed" its military operation supporting Syrian rebels against the Islamic State group launched last August in **rthern Syria.

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