UPDATE 3 - Regime chlorine gas attack kills 100 in Syria’s Idlib

ADDS REMARKS BY US ENVOY TO UN

By Mohamad Misto and Adham Kako

IDLIB, Syria (AA) – At least 100 people were killed Tuesday when Assad regime warplanes carried out a chlorine gas attack in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, according to Syrian opposition Health Minister Firas Jundi.

“The raids left over 100 people dead and 500 civilians, mostly children, injured,” Jundi told a press conference in Idlib.

The UN Security Council will convene Wednesday morning for an emergency meeting, Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the global body, told reporters Tuesday.

Jundi said regime warplanes struck the town of Khan Shaykun in southern Idlib with missiles containing “poisonous gas”.

“Many children were among the victims,” he said, adding that he expects the death toll to rise.

A local civil defense official earlier told Anadolu Agency a regime aircraft carried out a chlorine gas attack on the town early Tuesday.

Tuesday’s attack came one day after a regime aircraft carried out a similar chlorine gas attack on Idlib’s town of Al-Habit, hurting dozens.

The gas attack was swiftly condemned by British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, as well as other world leaders.

"Horrific reports of chemical weapons attack in Idlib, Syria. Incident must be investigated and perpetrators held to account,” he said on Twitter.

Britain’s Ambassador to the UN Matthew Rycroft told reporters Tuesday the attack was "clearly a war crime" and bore "all the hallmarks of a regime attack.

"It is clearly very bad news for peace in Syria," he said, adding: "But it demonstrates once again that the regime will stop at nothing to remain in power, even the use of the most heinous weapons imaginable."

Syrian regime forces are believed to have launched gas attacks on opposition-held areas in recent weeks.

On March 30, 35 civilians were affected by a chlorine gas attack carried out by regime forces in Al-Qaboun near Damascus.

Last year, a UN-appointed investigation panel found that chemical weapons were used by regime forces and opposition fighters in 2014 and 2015. However, no actionable steps were taken.

Chlorine gas is one of several elements and compounds used in devastating chemical attacks, and is outlawed by international treaties. High level of exposure to the gas can cause suffocation as the chemical injuries in the pulmonary airways result in severe fluid buildup in the lungs, with children and seniors particularly vulnerable.

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.