Turkey's CHP leader slams Syria chemical attack

By Sefa Mutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader has slammed the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

In remarks made during his meeting with the representatives of newspapers in Istanbul, Kemal Kilicdaroglu said: "The use of chemical weapons is a crime against humanity. It is the common task of all of us to determine the role of Syrian regime on this issue."

Kilicdaroglu hoped the United Nations would be sensitive over this situation in Syria.

The U.S. fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian military air base American officials believe was used to carry out a deadly chemical attack Tuesday, the Pentagon confirmed.

The missiles were fired from two U.S. destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean and hit the air base at approximately 3.45 a.m. Syrian local time Friday (0045GMT).

Aircraft, hardened aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage, ammunition supply bunkers, air defense systems, and radars were targeted, the Pentagon said.

On Tuesday, more than 100 civilians were reportedly killed and 500 others -- mostly children -- were injured in the attack allegedly carried out by the Bashar al-Assad regime warplanes in the town of Khan Shaykhun, Idlib province, according to Syrian opposition government's Health Minister Firas Jundi.

The Syrian regime, for its part, denied allegations it targeted the area with chemical weapons.

Last year, a UN-appointed investigation panel found that chemical weapons were mainly used by regime forces in 2014 and 2015. No punitive measures were taken, however.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the Arab Spring uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, more than a quarter-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, put the death toll from the six-year conflict at more than 470,000 people.