Sheikhoun reported an airstrike early Tuesday morning. In its aftermath, rescue workers and activists said, victims exhibited symptoms of a poison gas attack.


× The Syrian government has denied it carried out any chemical attack on the town. (Sign up for our free video newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

Moallem said a government strike Tuesday had targeted a weapons depot belonging to the Al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front (now known as the Organization for the Liberation of Syria); it was a reversal of an earlier denial from the Syrian government, which said its warplanes had not been in the vicinity.

A Syrian warplane conducted the strike at 11:30 a.m. local time, Moallem said, while the reports of a chemical attack had come hours earlier.

He added that if the explosions reported in the morning hadfurther details were available, but Moscow has parroted Assad’s claims that it used no chemical weapons and that it was a rebel storage facility that likely contained the gas that was released in an airstrike.

Last week, both Tillerson and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said the U.S. had abandoned its demand that Assad be removed from power and that the only priority in the Middle East was the defeat of Islamic State, which is concentrated in Syria and Iraq.

Special correspondent Bulos reported from Beirut and Times staff writer Wilkinson from Washington. Times staff writer W.J. Hennigan in Washington contributed to this report.

ALSO


Russian police arrest 3 suspected of links to subway bombing

Nearly 300 died in Mosul airstrike, making it one of the deadliest attacks on