chemical weapons

Russia blamed the strike on "speculations on children's photos." At the U.N., Ambassador Nikki Haley said, "The moral stain of the Assad regime could no longer go unanswered."

Dozens of victims of Tuesday's attack were treated at a decontamination center across the border, and autopsies of the dead showed chemical weapons were used, the Turkish government says.

"Their faces had turned yellow and they had stopped breathing," a Syrian activist tells NPR. "As I'm describing the incident to you now, my hands are shaking. No, my whole body is shaking."

The effects of such weapons are more devastating for a number of reasons. And if children survive, they suffer from the trauma of the attack for far more years because they have more years to live.

An attack on a rebel-held region of Syria on Tuesday has killed dozens of people. Video and eyewitness reports suggest powerful chemical weapons are responsible.

The suspected chemical weapons attack killed more than 70 civilians, including 20 children, in the town of Khan Shaykhun in Idlib province, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

An attack on a town in Idlib province early Tuesday allegedly combined conventional and chemical weapons. After the initial strike, a hospital was reportedly bombarded as it treated victims.

A colorless, odorless liquid, similar in consistency to motor oil, VX kills in tiny quantities that can be absorbed through the skin. It is among the deadliest chemical weapons ever devised.

Syria's government once again faces accusations of using chemical weapons against civilians. Activists and doctors say chlorine bombs were dropped in an airstrike on a rebel-held area of Aleppo.

Reports have said the self-proclaimed Islamic State likely used mustard gas against Kurdish forces. Officials tell NPR they have not determined what chemical, if any, was used.