Syria war: OPCW says Sarin was used in March 2017 attack Published duration 13 June 2018 Related Topics Syrian civil war

image copyright Abd al-Munaf Faraj al-Saleh via Human Rights Watch image caption A rescue worker sent Human Rights Watch a photo of a deformed yellow gas cylinder that he said hit the Latamina hospital roof on 25 March 2017

The global chemical weapons watchdog says the nerve agent Sarin and chlorine are very likely to have been used in attacks on a Syrian village last year.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons concluded Sarin was used as a weapon in the south of rebel-held Latamina on 24 March 2017, and chlorine at its hospital the next day.

It did not assign blame for the incidents, in line with its mandate.

But activists said at the time the area was under attack by government forces.

The government has repeatedly denied ever using chemical weapons.

However, a joint UN-OPCW mission that recently ended said it was confident that government forces used Sarin in an attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun just days after the incidents in nearby Latamina.

It did not provide any details about what happened in the incidents, but a UN Human Rights Council commission of inquiry has reported on the events of 25 March

Witnesses told investigators that the bomb made only a slight noise before releasing a yellow-greenish smoke that smelled strongly of cleaning agents.

The OPCW is also currently investigating a suspected chemical attack in April 2018 in the then rebel-held town of Douma, in which medics say 40 people were killed.

The US, UK and France said they were confident that chemical weapons had been used in Douma by government forces and in response carried out missile strikes on Syria's "chemical weapons infrastructure".