Nerve gas used in Syria five times

Sarin was used in a widely-publicised attack in the Ghouta suburb of Damascus on 21 August and probably in four other locations, UN chemical weapons inspectors have reported.

The other locations are Khan al Assal, Jobar, Saraqeb and Ashrafiah Sahnaya and the attacks are believed to have taken place between March and late August of 2013.

The report did not determine whether the Syrian government or opposition were responsible for the attacks. It does note that in several cases the victims included soldiers as well as civilians, but states that it was not always possible to establish direct links between the attacks, the victims and the alleged sites of the incidents.

Chief UN chemical weapons inspector Ake Sellstrom presented the report to Ban Ki-Moon at the UN headquarters in New York on Thursday. Mr Ban said he would address the UN General Assembly on Friday and the Security Council on Monday about the report’s findings and urged the elimination of the deadly weapons, not only in Syria but everywhere.

Videos uploaded to YouTube of the attacks on Ghouta brought attention to the issue – showing dozens of people gasping for air and then twitching and convulsing before becoming comatose. Rows of bodies were seen.

Watch - Syria chemical attack: the video evidence

Ban-Ki Moon, UN Secretary-General said: “The use of chemical weapons is a grave violation of international law, an affront to our shared humanity. We need to remain vigilant to ensure that these awful weapons are eliminated, not only in Syria, but everywhere.”

Europe’s ‘shameful’ response to Syrian refugee crisis

Also published on Friday – an Amnesty International report slammed Europe for a “shameful response” to the refugee crisis in Syria. Of the 2.3m displaced Syrians, only 12,000 had been offered sanctuary in Europe. Of those, 10,000 have been offered asylum by Germany, with countries including the UK and Italy taking no refugees at all.

As winter hits the Middle East, the huge numbers of refugees in temporary encampments face disease and the cold. Others attempting to journey to Europe face harsh border controls and dangerous journeys in boats across the Mediterranean.

“My experience didn’t just destroy my dreams; it destroyed my family’s dreams. I am destroyed completely” Syrian boy

Amnesty quote one boy from Syria who lost his father and nine-year-old brother in a shipwreck off the Italian coast:

“My experience didn’t just destroy my dreams; it destroyed my family’s dreams. I am destroyed completely.”

• Only 10 EU member states offered resettlement or humanitarian admission places to refugees from Syria.
• Germany is by far the most generous – pledging to take 10,000 refugees or 80 per cent of total EU pledges.
• Excluding Germany, the remaining 27 EU member states have offered to take a mere 2,340 refugees from Syria.
• France offered just 500 places or 0.02 per cent of the total number of people who have fled Syria.
• Spain agreed to take just 30 or 0.001 per cent of refugees from Syria.
• Eighteen EU member states – including the UK and Italy – offered no places at all.

Amnesty is asking European leaders to significantly increase the number of resettlement and humanitarian admission places for refugees from Syria, and to provide support to countries bordering Syria such as Jordan and Lebanon that are hosting huge numbers of refugees.

So far 100,000 are believed to have died in Syria’s two year long civil war.

Read more: Destruction in Damascus - a photo essay from Syria