OPCW says no timetable for final report


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Inspectors have completed their initial fact-finding in Douma, the town near Syria’s capital Damascus where the Assad regime carried out chemical attacks from January to April during an offensive to regain the area.

The OPCW announced, after the inspectors took samples and interviewed witnesses, that initial analysis will take at least three to four weeks in The Netherlands. Meanwhile. the Fact-Finding Mission tries to collect more information and material. The organization said it can give no timetable for delivery of a final report.

Some accounts said the inspectors are also seeking to exhume bodies to examine the victims. Sources from Douma said locals had buried about 50 people to try and prevent the Assad regime and Russia from taking away all evidence of the attacks.

The Assad regime carried out at least seven chlorine attacks from mid-January before and during the main air and ground assault. It then carried out the double attack on April 7 — according to doctors, first responders, citizen journalists, activists, and NGOs — the first with chlorine and the second with chlorine and a stronger agent, both dropped by helicopters.

Rebels in Douma capitulated hours later as more chemical attacks were reportedly threatened, agreeing to forced removals to northern Syria. Russian personnel quickly went to the sites of the attacks, with local sources saying that evidence was removed and disturbed. The Assad regime and Russia also delayed inspections for a week by the OPCW, after its team arrived in Damascus on April 14, while Moscow blocked any attribution of blame for the mass killing.


4 Killed in Latest Pro-Assad Airstrikes on Idlib Province

At least six people have been killed and 12 wounded in the latest airstrikes by the Assad regime and Russia on opposition-held Idlib Province in northwest Syria.

The White Helmets report on some of the casualties:

Farmland has been shelled, setting off fires:

IDLIB SHELLED 04-05-18

Pro-Assad forces suspended a ground offensive in late January, after taking a slice of southeast Idlib, to redeploy forces for the reoccupation of the East Ghouta area near Damascus. Further operations have been complicated by Turkish intervention, alongside rebels, with a series of observation posts.

However, Russian and regime warplanes are periodically attacking civilian areas, causing scores of casualties this spring, despite the Turkish presence around parts of Idlib, western Aleppo, and northern Hama Provinces.

Two Boys Killed by Cluster Bomb in Aleppo Province

Two boys have been killed by a cluster bomb, dropped earlier in the conflict, which exploded in Aleppo Province.