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Geopolitics

Syrian Rebels Claim 200 Dead In Chemical Attack, Government Denies

REUTERS, SKY NEWS(UK), SANA(Syria)

Worldcrunch

DAMASCUS — Two Syrian opposition groups claim that government forces launched rockets with poison gas Wednesday morning in an attack they say killed more than 200 people in a rebel-held area near Damascus, Reuters reports.

Syrian officials denied the claims on state television, calling the allegations “completely baseless.” And state news agency Sana reports a source as saying the reports are false and were intended to distract UN chemical weapons inspectors, who arrived in the country Sunday.

Since the conflict began two years ago, both the rebels and President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have accused each other of using chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin.

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Map: Wikipedia

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

How The Dam Destruction Will Impact Ukraine's Counteroffensive — And What That Tells Us

When both sides of a conflict blame each other for something as important as the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam, there's only one way to understand what's going on: find out who benefits from the crime.

Three Ukrainian Servicemen aim their rifles towards the camera during training

Servicemen during a training session of the Offensive Guard of the National Guard, Kharkiv Region, Ukraine.

Pierre Haski

-Analysis-

PARIS — Moscow and Kyiv continue to blame each other for blowing up the Nova Kakhovka dam in Russian-controlled Ukrainian territory. The dam's destruction is flooding the region around Kherson, the main town retaken by the Ukrainians last November.

It's a humanitarian and ecological disaster, and a major offense. It's worth pointing out that the Geneva Conventions formally prohibit attacks on dams, dikes or nuclear power plants, so this may constitute a war crime.

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The immediate consequence of this sabotage is that it could hamper a possible Ukrainian counteroffensive in this strategic region. If the Ukrainians had considered launching their long-awaited and much-trumpeted assault in the Kherson region, this is now doubtful.

The flooding and state of the soil over the next few weeks makes the passage of armored vehicles and troops no longer possible.

This could force Ukrainian forces to divert some of their resources to deal with the humanitarian emergency, and to review their attack plans. From this point of view, it's a setback for Kyiv.

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