LONDON — British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Monday calls for a “strong and robust international response” to an alleged poison gas attack on a rebel-held town near Damascus.
Speaking with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian on the phone, Johnson “underlined the urgent need to investigate what had happened in Douma and to ensure a strong and robust international response,” the UK’s Foreign Office says in a statement.
Syria and its ally Russia have dismissed allegations that the attack was carried out by Syrian forces as “fabrications” and have warned against using them to justify military action.
The Foreign Office statement doesn’t apportion blame for the alleged chemical attack.
But it says that Le Drian and Johnson “noted that international investigators mandated by the UN Security Council had found the Assad regime responsible for using poison gas in at least four separate attacks since 2014.”
The two “agreed that those responsible for this attack must be held to account” and a UN Security Council meeting on Monday would be “an important next step in determining the international response and that a full range of options should be on the table,” it adds.
— AFP
This image released Sunday, April 8, 2018 by the Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets, shows a child receiving oxygen through respirators following an alleged poison gas attack in the rebel-held town of Douma, near Damascus, Syria. Syrian rescuers and medics said the attack on Douma killed at least 40 people. (Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets via AP)
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