At the time of writing, the gas attack on Idlib province in Northern Syria has left 72 dead and 200 injured. What is certain is that the specific symptoms shown by the wounded and dying have led doctors and experts to identify the use of sarin gas. Use of chemical weapons is a war crime. Yet today’s emergency meeting of the UN Security Council is unlikely to lead to concrete action because, once again, the identity of the perpetrator is being disputed. Eyewitnesses say they saw bombs falling from a Syrian government plane onto the opposition areas below, while the Russians claim that a rebel chemical weapons’ depot was hit by a conventional bomb, causing the gas to leak. Hamish de Bretton Gordon, director of Doctors Under Fire and former commanding officer of the UK Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Regiment, told Radio 4’s Today programme that this claim is “completely untrue”. He thought the Russians were covering for their allies, adding that: “Axiomatically, if you blow up sarin, you destroy it.” Unfortunately, sanctions against Assad’s murderous regime are unlikely. Although Washington, Paris and London have drawn up a draft U.N. Security Council statement condemning the attack, and demanding an investigation, Russia has the power to veto it, as it has done before. Meanwhile, President Trump is faced with same dilemma that faced his predecessor: whether to openly challenge Moscow and risk deep involvement in a Middle East war by seeking to punish Assad for using banned weapons, or compromise, leaving the Syrian leader in power at the risk of looking weak. Syria’s sarin supplies were supposed to have been removed under UN supervision in 2014, following the gas attack on Ghouta, which left 1300 dead. However, there were suspicions that some of the stockpile had not been declared to inspectors. Sadly, this week, those suspicions appear to have been borne out.