French intelligence services have scientific proof that the Syrian regime was responsible for a suspected chemical attack that killed 87 people, France’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.
Jean-Marc Ayrault said analysis of samples taken at the scene of the April 4 attack in rebel-held Khan Sheikhun in which 31 children were among the dead showed “there is no doubt that sarin gas was used” and that it was produced by Syrian laboratories.
He said the substance France believes was used in the attack contains hexamine, a component that was also found in a gas attack in northwest Syria in 2013. “We are able to confirm that the sarin used on April 4 is the same sarin that was used in an attack in Saraqeb on April 29, 2013,” he said. Mr Ayrault said the chemical fingerprint is “typical of the method developed in Syrian laboratories” and bore “the regime’s hallmarks.”
