The pilot who carried out the sarin gas attack which killed 87 Syrian civilians is an Assad General who carried out a similar attack last month, it is reported.

General Mohammed Hasouri, a squadron commander in Assad's army, was pictured being congratulated for the raid in Khan Sheikhoun last Tuesday on Twitter.

Fares Shehabi, the MP for Aleppo and a high-ranking member of the Assad regime, posted an image on social media of Hasouri shaking hands with General Ali Abdullah Ayoub, the chief of general staff of the Syrian Arab Army.

Fares Shehabi, the MP for Aleppo, posted an image on Twitter of General Mohammed Hasouri (left) at Shayrat airbase being congratulated for a raid on Khan Sheikhoun

It is thought that General Hasouri dropped the sarin gas bomb which killed 87. Assad's regime claims it bombed al-Qaeda weapons dumps which released the nerve agent

Shehabi captioned the image: 'Syrian army chief of staff thanks General Haytham Hasouri for destroying Qaeda's weapons facilities in Khan Sheikhoun, Edlib.'

It is thought Shehabi used a false first name to try and protect the General's identity, though the image matches previous pictures of him. A source also confirmed to The Times that the man in the picture was Mohammed Hasouri.

Assad's regime maintains that it did not drop chemical weapons on Khan Sheikhoun, a farming village near Homs, and says it bombed Jihadi weapons stores which released the deadly nerve agent.

But experts have rubbished that theory, saying sarin gas would be destroyed by an explosion, rather than dispersed.

The Times also claims that General Hasouri was behind another gas attack in the village of Latamineh, 15 miles from Khan Sheikhoun, on March 30.

General Hasouri is also believed to have taken part in another gas bomb raid last month which sickened 70 in a town around 15 miles from Khan Sheikhoun

President Trump carried out a Tomahawk missile attack against Shayrat airbase after aides say he was horrified by images of the gas attack victims

Around 70 people were sickened in that attack, with doctors describing victims as suffering spasms and foaming at the mouth. Fortunately nobody was killed.

Experts also said that General Hasouri would almost certainly have known he was dropping chemical agents, as the target area would have differed from a conventional bomb attack.

Chemical weapons have to be dropped upwind of the target area, with ideal weather conditions so the gas does not evaporate too quickly or blow away too fast.

There were reports on Monday that General Hasouri had been killed in a carbomb attack, though these could not be verified.

The General is chief of staff for air force brigade 50 and originally from the town of Talkalakh, near the Lebanese border, which has seen heavy fighting between rebel forces and those loyal to Assad.

General Hasouri is an Alawite, a Shia Muslim sect that counts Assad himself as a member. Most of the dictator's high-ranking officials are also Alawite.