Russia stands by Syria at UN over chemical weapons attack

Russia denied onWednesday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was to blame fora poison gas attack and said it would continue to back him,setting the Kremlin on course for its biggest diplomaticcollision yet with Donald Trump's White House.

Western countries, including the United States, blamedAssad's armed forces for a chemical attack thatchoked scoresof people to death in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in a rebel-heldarea of northern Syria on Tuesday.

Washington said it believed the deaths were caused by sarinnerve gas dropped by Syrian aircraft. But Moscow offered analternative explanation that would shield Assad: that the poisongas belonged to rebels and had leaked from an insurgent weaponsdepot hit by Syrian bombs.

Everyone saw the plane bombing with gas.HasanHaj Ali,FreeIdlibArmy

Video uploaded to social media showed civilians sprawled onthe ground, some in convulsions, others lifeless. Rescue workershosed down the limp bodies of small children, trying to wash awaychemicals. People wailed and pounded on the chests of victims.

The World Health Organization said the symptoms wereconsistent with exposure to a nerve agent.

The United States, Britain and France proposed a draftUNSecurity Council resolution that would have demandedan investigation.

The Security Council held an emergency meeting on Wednesday about the attack, during which Russia and Syria again rejected theallegations blaming the release of gas on the rebels while accusing other council members of relying on misinformation to attempt a regime change in Damascus.

Have you even checked what you wrote? Deputy Russian UNAmbassador VladimirSafronkov

Moscow's representative repeated the Kremlin's earlier claim that the gas was released when a conventionalairstrikehit a warehouse where rebels were secretly storing their own chemical weapons.

Russia, which is among the countries with veto power over UN resolutions, said the draft proposal by the "anti-Damascus camp" was based on "falsified reports taken at face value."

"Have you even checked what you wrote?" deputy Russian UN ambassador Vladimir Safronkov asked. "This draft was prepared in a hasty way."

Safronkovadded thatformer president Barack Obama's threat of military action if a "redline" was crossed and chemical weapons were used in Syria hadprovoked such attacks.

"That decision served as a starting point for futureprovocations by terrorists," he said, remarksthat echoed those of President Donald Trump, whofaultedObamafor havingfailed to enforce the red line four years ago.

Russia has blocked all previous resolutions that would harmAssad,most recently in February.

Lines crossed

Trump accusedAssad's government of going "beyond a red line" with a poison gas attack on civilians and said his attitude toward Syria and Assad had changed, but gave no indication of how he would respond.

Trump said the attack "crosses many, many lines,"an allusion to his predecessor Barack Obama's threat to topple Assad with air strikes if he used such weapons. His accusations against Assad put him directly at odds with Moscow, the Syrian's president principal backer.

"I will tell you, what happened yesterday is unacceptable to me," Trump told reporters at a news conference with Jordan's King Abdullah on Wednesday.

"And I will tell you, it's already happened that my attitude toward Syria and Assad has changed very much," though when asked at an earlier meeting whether he was formulating a new policy on Syria, Trump said: "You'll see."

Vice-President Mike Pence, when asked whether it was time to renew the call for Assad to be ousted and safe zones be established, told Fox News: "But let me be clear, all options are on the table," without elaborating.

'Damning indictment of Assad'

On a call from the Brussels Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region, Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freelandurged the UN Security Council to support a resolution to confirm responsibility for the latest chemical attack.

"If confirmed, this new use of chemical weapons is a damning indictment of Assad," she said. "And I want to be very clear that Canada considers this to be an absolutely reprehensible attack on civilians, including children."

Freeland said the American role in resolving the Syrian crisis is a "truth, universally acknowledged." She pointed to the work of the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

"[Nikki Haley] has been very active, very strong and very outspoken in the debate today at the Security Council. Personally, I would like to commend the work that she's doing today and the strong position she has taken."

HasanHaj Ali, commander of theFreeIdlibArmyrebel group, earlier called Russian's blame of the rebels a "lie" and saidrebels did not have the capability to produce nerve gas.

"Everyone sawthe plane while it was bombing with gas," hetold Reuters from northwestern Syria. "Likewise, all thecivilians in the area know that there are no military positionsthere, or places for the manufacture [of weapons]."

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday the death toll had risen to 86, andthose killed in Tuesday's attack included30 children and 20 women.

'Heinous actions'

The incident is the first time Washington has accused Assadof using sarin since 2013, when hundreds of people died in anattack on a Damascus suburb. At that time, Washington said Assadhad crossed a "red line" set by Obama.

Obama threatened an air campaign to topple Assad but calledit off at the last minute after the Syrian leader agreed to giveup his chemical arsenal under a deal brokered by Moscow, adecision which Trump has long said proved Obama's weakness.

The new incident means Trump is faced with same dilemma thatfaced his predecessor: whether to openly challenge Moscow andrisk deep involvement in a Middle East war by seeking to punishAssad for using banned weapons, or compromise and accept theSyrian leader remaining in power at the risk of looking weak.

Quietly dropping demands

Trump's response to a diplomatic confrontation with Moscowwill be closely watched at home because of accusations by hispolitical opponents that he is too supportive of RussianPresident Vladimir Putin.

He has previously said the United States and Russia shouldwork more closely in Syria to fight against Islamic State.

U.S. intelligence agencies say Russia intervened in the U.S.presidential election last year through computer hacking to helpTrump defeat Hillary Clinton. The FBI and two congressionalcommittees are investigating whether figures from the Trumpcampaign colluded with Moscow, which the White House denies.

• International community denouncesIdlibattack
• Syria, ISIS have both used toxic gas: UN probe
• UN says use of chemical weapons could constitute war crime

The chemical attack in Idlib province, one of the last majorstrongholds of rebels that have fought since 2011 to toppleAssad, complicates diplomatic efforts to end a war that haskilled hundreds of thousands of people and driven half ofSyrians from their homes.

Over the past several months Western countries, includingthe United States, had been quietly dropping their demands thatAssad leave power in any deal to end the war, accepting that therebels no longer had the capability to topple him by force.

The use of banned chemical weapons would make it harder forthe international community to sign off on any peace deal thatdoes not remove him.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who two months agoshifted his country's policy by saying Assad could be allowed torun for re-election, said on Wednesday that he must go.

"This is a barbaric regime that has made it impossible forus to imagine them continuing to be an authority over the peopleof Syria after this conflict is over."