"We condemn the use of the prohibited chemical weapon in Syria, which was unequivocally confirmed, in the strongest terms. It is important that those responsible for this dreadful crime are identified soon. Everyone, who uses chemical weapons, should clearly understand that the international society will not tolerate the use of the prohibited chemical weapons and bring to justice those responsible," Schaefer said.
He added that the UN Security Council has "a special responsibility" in the issue.
On April 4, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, supported by the United States, blamed the Syrian government for chemical weapon incident in Khan Shaykhun in Syria’s Idlib province, which killed 80 people, including children, and injured 200 more. The Syrian army strongly rejected the accusations and laid the blame on local militants and their patrons. The Syrian authorities said that they had never used chemical weapons against civilians or terrorists, and that nation's entire chemical arsenal had been exported under the control of the OPCW.
Reacting to the incident, Washington, which had not presented any proof of the chemical weapon use by Damascus, launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian governmental military airfield in Ash Sha’irat on April 6.
Later in April, Assad told Sputnik that there was no chemical weapon attack in Idlib, adding that the reports of it were a false flag and fabrication which was supposed to justify a US missile strike on a Syrian armed forces’ airbase.
