Syria slams chemical watchdog report on 2018 attack

By SAMAR KASSABALLI and KAREEM CHEHAYEB
Associated Press

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria has dismissed the global chemical weapons watchdog’s statement that said investigators found “reasonable grounds to believe” Syria’s air force dropped two cylinders of chlorine gas in 2018 on the rebel-held town of Douma. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons produced a detailed report into the April 7, 2018, attack, with medical workers and activists saying that more than 40 people were killed. Syria’s permanent representative to OPCW, Ambassador Milad Atieh, on Thursday said the agency has been biased towards “Western positions,” and claimed that the report would be used as a justification to further tighten U.S. and European sanctions on Syria.