US: Assad broke chemical arms agreement

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday accused Syrian President Bashar Assad of breaking the terms of a global pact on chemical weapons by unleashing chlorine gas this year.
“We believe there is evidence of Assad’s use of chlorine, which when you use it — despite it not being on the list — it is prohibited under the Chemical Weapons Convention,” Kerry told US lawmakers. The US also had “some questions about a couple of other items” which were being investigated “so he’s in violation of the convention,” Kerry added.
Washington was studying ways to hold Assad to account, after the world’s chemical watchdog earlier this month confirmed the systematic use of chlorine as a weapon in war-torn Syria.
Meanwhile, an international aid group says that nearly three million Syrian children are not attending school due to the war raging in their country. The report by the Britain-based Save the Children adds that hundreds of thousands of displaced children are struggling to enroll for school in their host countries and in Syria.