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'IT WAS ASSAD'

French intelligence agency ‘has proof that Syrian government is behind chemical attack that killed 86’

FRENCH spooks have proof that the Syrian government used chemical weapons in a deadly attack on its own people, the foreign minister has revealed.

President Bashar al-Assad has vehemently denied being behind the sarin attack that left 86 dead and hundreds injured.

Assad said the suspected chemical attack was a "fabrication" to justify a US missile strike on Syrian forces and accused President Donald Trump of being "hand in glove" with terrorists.

 Syrian anti-government activist group Edlib Media Cente released this picture of Syrian doctors treating a child following the chemical attack
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Syrian anti-government activist group Edlib Media Cente released this picture of Syrian doctors treating a child following the chemical attackCredit: AP:Associated Press
 Assad called the chemical attack a 'fabrication'
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Assad called the chemical attack a 'fabrication'Credit: AP:Associated Press

But the French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has said the country's intelligence agency will provide proof in the "coming days" that Assad's forces used chemical weapons in the April 4 attack.

He told LCP television: "There is an investigation underway (by) the French intelligence services and military intelligence... it's a question of days and we will provide proof that the regime carried out these strikes.

 The damaged cereals silo in Idlib, after Assad regime's suspected chemical attack there
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The damaged cereals silo in Idlib, after Assad regime's suspected chemical attack thereCredit: Getty Images
 TV footage of a suspected victim of the attack
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TV footage of a suspected victim of the attackCredit: AP:Associated Press
 France's Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, pictured with Boris Johnson, claims French spies can prove Assad was behind the attack
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France's Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, pictured with Boris Johnson, claims French spies can prove Assad was behind the attackCredit: Reuters

"We have elements that will enable us to show that the regime knowingly used chemical weapons."

Scores of people died after exposure to poison gas in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, in Idlib province, on April 4. Western governments said Syrian government forces had dropped chemical weapons on the town, but Russia denied that, saying the chemical attack had been faked.

The missile strike was the first direct US military action against Assad's forces since the start of Syria's civil war six years ago and precipitated a downward spiral in ties between Washington and Moscow.


WHAT HAPPENED DURING THE ALLEGED NERVE GAS ATTACK

More than 85 people, many of them children, died an excruciating death after being gassed by a nerve agent in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun.

Bombs rained down at about 6.30 am local time on April 4 while many people were sleeping.

By the time the White Helmet rescuers arrived they found people having fits and frothing at the mouth.

Video taken at the scene showed civilians sprawled on the ground, some in convulsions, others lifeless.

Rescue workers hosed down the limp bodies of small children, trying to wash away chemicals.

People wailed and pounded on the chests of victims.

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