INTERNATIONAL tensions have rocketed after a chemical attack in Syria killed at least 42 people on 7 April. Reports of victims with burning eyes and breathing problems suggest helicopters dumped chlorine bombs on the town of Douma, near Damascus. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) .
Syria signed the international treaty banning chemical weapons in 2013, under pressure from the US and Russia, after it attacked civilians with the nerve gas sarin. The OPCW says it destroyed 94 per cent of Syria鈥檚 banned chemical weapons by 2014. Since then, Syria has , a chemical not banned by the treaty unless used as a weapon.
In April 2017, it also attacked three villages with sarin. Russia denied Syria was behind that attack, but the US retaliated by bombing a Syrian airfield. After having reacted to the sarin attack, the US is under pressure to issue a military response again.
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This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淪yrian chemical weapons attack鈥�
