MILITARY/NATIONAL SECURITY/REX TILLERSON/RUSSIA/STATE/SYRIA: “Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he is holding Russia accountable for a new chemical weapon attack believed to be conducted by Syrian government forces near Damascus on Monday [1-22-18].
Moscow’s failure to halt chemical strikes calls into question Russia’s ability to participate in efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis, Mr. Tillerson said Tuesday at the end of a meeting of more than 20 countries on preventing chemical weapon use…
Mr. Tillerson said the new chemical attack reported in eastern Ghouta raises ‘serious concerns that Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime may be continuing to use chemical weapons against his own people.’
Russia’s failure to constrain chemical weapon use in Syria ‘calls into question its relevance to the resolution of the overall crisis,’ he said, calling on Russia to stop vetoing United Nations Security Council votes on chemical weapon use in Syria and instead, at a minimum, abstain from future votes.
Mr. Tillerson said more than 20 civilians, most of them children, ‘were victims of an apparent chlorine-gas attack’ on Monday in eastern Ghouta.
Russian officials didn’t immediately respond to Mr. Tillerson’s remarks.
The chief U.S. diplomat said Russia hasn’t lived up to an international deal reached in 2013 to destroy Syria’s chemical weapon stockpile. He said there has been mounting evidence since April 2014 that Syria continues to possess chemical weapons.”
-Felicia Schwartz, “U.S. Blames Russia for Allowing Alleged Chemical Attack Against Civilians in Syria,” The Wall Street Journal online, Jan. 23, 2018 01:32pm