Germany on Monday (April 9) condemned the use of chemical weapons in Douma, a rebel-held town in Syria’s eastern Ghouta, and said the circumstances pointed to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad being responsible for the attack.
“The government condemns this new use of poison gas in the strongest terms,” German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told a news conference. “The regime’s actions are abhorrent.”
“Those responsible for the use of poison gas … must be held to account,” he added. “With this use of poison gas, the circumstances point to Assad regime’s responsibility.”
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that allegations that the Syrian government carried out a gas attack in a besieged rebel-held town on Saturday were false and a provocation.
Lavrov also told reporters following a meeting with his Tajik counterpart in Moscow that an air strike carried out on Sunday on a Syrian air base was a dangerous development.
