A witness who filmed the nerve-gas attack on Khan Sheikhoun from a nearby hilltop gave a graphic account yesterday of the massacre that claimed the lives of 75 people, including 20 children.
Hussam Salloum, a volunteer with an air-raid warning service in rebel-held areas, described watching a Sukhoi-22 aircraft, a Syrian army jet, approach the town at low altitude.
The warplane dropped three conventional explosive bombs – and a fourth that made little sound on impact but produced a cloud of smoke.
"The smoke was white and thick," he said. "It began to spread out, until there was a layer over the town."
Mr Salloum watched the raid from about 1.5 kilometres away and used a walkie-talkie to alert rescue workers.
"The pilot carried out the bombing in one go, four bombs together," he said.
"We discovered it was toxic gas from a civil defence worker who went to the place quickly. He told us there was an unusual smell. Less than a minute later, he told us he was dizzy and fainting. We lost contact with him."
His account emerged as Nikki Haley, America’s ambassador to the United Nations, warned an emergency session of the Security Council that the US was prepared to act against Syria with or without UN cooperation.
"Assad, Russia and Iran have no interest in peace. The illegitimate Syrian government, led by a man with no conscience, has committed untold atrocities against his people," Ms Haley told the 15-member council.
"When the United Nations consistently fails in its duty to act collectively, there are times in the life of states that we are compelled to take our own action."
She did not specify what form the action would take but her tough-talking stance found immediate support from other member states.
"We’re talking about war crimes," said the French UN ambassador Francois Delattre. "We urge Russia to exert much stronger pressure on the regime. Frankly we also need an America that is seriously committed to a solution in Syria and that puts all its weight behind it."
Russia, Syria’s main ally, insisted Syrian jets had not dropped the chemical weapons on Khan Sheihoun, in rebel-held Idlib province. Moscow claimed the gas was released when Syrian warplanes bombed a rebel chemical weapons plant, but the claim was dismissed by chemical weapons experts as "fanciful". An American review of radar and other assessments showed Assad regime aircraft flying over the area at the time of the attack.
During what became a highly-charged meeting in New York, Ms Haley held up photographs of children who were killed in the attack on Tuesday. Britain also weighed in as the UK envoy Matthew Rycroft asked Russia: "What is your plan? What is your plan to stop these horrific senseless attacks? We had a plan and we had the support and you rejected it to protect Assad."
Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Vladimir Safronkov, said Russia had more than one plan but the first was to fight terrorism.
Russia has consistently vetoed numerous UN peace initiatives and did so again when the United States, Britain and France proposed a Security Council resolution to condemn the latest chemical weapons attack, and to press Syria into handing over to an international inquiry all flight plans and logs for Tuesday, plus the names of all helicopter squadron commanders and access to airbases.
Russia described the draft resolution as "unacceptable." Instead the Russian foreign ministry said the rebel forces in Idlib should "offer full access to study the area and collect necessary information".
Those vetoes by Russia had only encouraged Mr Al Assad and Tuesday’s attack was "the consequence", said Mr Rycroft.
The type of chemical used in the attack on Khan Sheikhoun has yet to be ascertained

Source: The National