Syrian Turkmen Assembly condemns Idlib chemical attack

HATAY, Turkey (AA) – Syrian Turkmen Assembly has decried an apparent chemical attack in Syria's northern Idlib province, in which 100 people were killed.

Usame Solak, head of the assembly's Hatay branch in southern Turkey, said the world stands idle while innocent people are suffering.

"People were slowly being killed in their beds," he told Anadolu Agency.

More than 100 civilians were killed on Tuesday and 500 others, mostly children, were hurt or injured by a chlorine gas attack carried out by regime warplanes in the town of Khan Shaykun, according to Syrian opposition Health Minister Firas Jundi.

The attack has invited a storm of world condemnations with the UN Security Council is set to hold a meeting on Wednesday the incident.

Solak denied Russian claims that the attack had targeted an opposition weapons depot in the town.

"Claiming that the opposition forces possess chemical weapons while people lack self-cleaning liquids is making fool of the world," he said.

"People can not even find water to drink let alone possessing chemical weapons," he stressed.

Recalling that chemical weapons were used by regime forces in 2013, the Turkmen representative said the U.S. and European countries did nothing but condemned.

"Everyone knows that Assad is responsible for this. The UN will meet today over Idlib, but the meeting will be nothing but a formality," he said.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Ahrar al-Sham group denied claims that the attack had targeted armed groups in Idlib. The spokesman said there were no military groups in the area.

"The people living in the targeted area were either local residents of Khan Shaykhun or those who took shelter from neighboring regions," he added.

The spokesman stated that the main aim of the horrific chemical attack was to break the resistance of the opposition forces.

Since March 2011, the Syrian opposition has demanded an end to more than 44 years of Assad family’s rule and the establishment of a democratic state.

The Syrian regime responded to the protests with military force, pushing the country into a vicious downward spiral of violence, bloody battles and a civil war that is still ongoing between the regime and opposition forces.

Since then, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to the UN. The Syrian Center for Policy Research, however, puts the death toll from the six-year conflict at more than 470,000 people.

* Ali Murat Alhas contributed to this report from Ankara.