The use of chemical weapons is “becoming routine in the Syrian civil war”, a US official has said.
Rafael Foley was speaking at a closed meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ (OPCW) executive council, which was called to discuss recent findings including that a “non-state actor” likely used the chemical agent sulfur mustard, or mustard gas, during fighting in the Syrian town of Marea in August.
Mr Foley, the US envoy to the chemical international weapons watchdog, said Syrian opposition forces were fighting Islamic State (IS) in the town close to the Turkish border.
French prime minister Manuel Valls warned last week that associates of extremists responsible for the November 13 Paris attacks could use chemical and biological weapons.