After Idlib attack, Syrian Türkmen demand UN sanctions

Syria’s Assad regime has been perpetrating massacres “for years” and Tuesday’s deadly chemical attack in Idlib was “merely the latest horrific example”, the head of Syria’s Türkmen Assembly said Thursday.

"What happened in the town of Khan Shaykhun was inhumane and another example of state terrorism carried out by the regime,” Emin Bozoglan said in reference to Tuesday’s suspected chemical attack in which scores of civilians were killed.

“The UN must respond by imposing sanctions on the Assad regime," he said.

"Children and innocent civilians are being slaughtered; this is inexplicable," he added.

Recalling a 2013 chemical attack in the Eastern Ghouta region of Damascus -- in which hundreds were killed and thousands injured by sarin gas in an alleged regime attack -- Bozoglan asserted: "The regime’s brutality will not be forgiven. The aggressor must be punished."

"The regime has consistently violated the ceasefire agreement,” he continued. “The countries that played prominent roles in the ceasefire talks should be following the developments closely."

"The world can no longer be silent,” he added. “The only place people can take shelter is at hospitals, yet these have been destroyed as well."

Early Tuesday, Idlib’s town of Khan Shaykhun was subject to a chemical weapon attack that left at least 100 people dead and hundreds more -- mostly children -- adversely affected.

The Syrian regime, for its part, has denied allegations that it targeted the area with chemical weapons.