Dozens killed in suspected Syrian chemical attack

Smoke billows in the town of Douma, the last opposition holdout in Syria's Eastern Ghouta, on April 7, 2018, after Syrian regime troops resumed a military blitz to pressure rebels to withdraw
(Image credit: STR/AFP/Getty Images)

At least 70 people were killed and about 1,000 more injured in what is thought to be a chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma in the rebel-held area of Eastern Ghouta. The deaths have been reported by multiple activist groups on the ground in Syria but have not been independently confirmed.

With support from Russia, the Bashar al-Assad regime has labeled the allegations a "fabrication." Syrian state-run media said government-rebel negotiations would begin Sunday.

State Department representative Heather Nauert said the "reports, if confirmed, are horrifying and demand an immediate response by the international community," arguing that Moscow "ultimately bears responsibility for these brutal attacks."

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.