"The terrible news of the night about the chemical attack will definitely set a tone for today. It will be on the background of our discussions and will be very much in front of our minds, our solidarity with the people of Syria who have suffered so much through 6 years of conflict. This will have a very serious tone on our meeting today," O'Brien said.
On Tuesday, the Syrian National Coalition of Revolution and Opposition Forces claimed that nearly 80 people were killed and some 200 injured in a chemical weapon attack in the Idlib province, blaming the Syrian army for the incident. A source in the Syrian army later told Sputnik that the army did not have chemical weapons and the allegations could be part of anti-Damascus propaganda.
The Brussels Conference on "Supporting the future of Syria and the region," co-chaired by the European Union, Germany, Kuwait, Norway, Qatar, the United Kingdom and the United Nations, will assess where the international community stands on fulfilling the commitments made at the London Conference last year, during which over $11 billion was raised for Syrian humanitarian needs for the next four years and an additional $40 billion was pledged in loans.
According to the UN data, nearly 6.3 million of Syrian people have been displaced since the start of the violent conflict, and 4.9 million people, mostly women and children, have been forced to seek refuge.
