OPCW starts investigation into chemical attack in Syrian Idlib

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Fact Finding Mission (OPCW) said its investigation into the Tuesday chemical weapons attack in the Syrian Idlib is ongoing.

OPCW, referring to the media reports, requested all member states of the Chemical Weapons Convention to share available information on what it described preliminary as "allegations of use of chemical weapons in the Khan Shaykhun area of Idlib province in the Syrian Arab Republic."

The Turkish Health Ministry said today that the poison used in the chemical bomb attack this week was the banned nerve agent sarin. “According to the results of preliminary tests,” the statement said, “patients were exposed to chemical material (Sarin).”

Western countries and Syria opposition have accused the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad of carrying out the chemical attack. The Syrian government has denied responsibility.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on its Facebook page that a Syrian airstrike hit "workshops, which produced chemical warfare munitions" on the eastern outskirts of Khan Sheikhoun. It said "terrorists" had been transporting the chemical munitions from their largest arsenal to Iraq.

Early Tuesday, more than 100 civilians were killed and 500 others, mostly children, were injured in the attack allegedly carried out by the Bashar al-Assad regime warplanes in the Idlib province.