Region

United Nations — World powers imposed an arms embargo Tuesday on Yemeni rebels and demanded they relinquish territory seized in a sweeping offensive that forced UN-backed President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee overseas.

The UN Security Council vote came soon after Iran, a key ally of the Houthi Shiite rebels, proposed a peace plan for Yemen calling for a ceasefire followed by foreign-mediated talks by all sides.

Fears are growing of a humanitarian disaster in the impoverished state, which sank deeper into violence and chaos after a Saudi-led regional coalition launched an air war on the Houthis and allied rebel troops on March 26.

UN rights chief HH Prince Zeid called Tuesday for investigations into the high level of civilian casualties that account for almost half of the at least 736 deaths recorded in the conflict.

Al Qaeda has sought to exploit the turmoil to expand its foothold in Yemen, a front-line in the US war on the Sunni extremist group.

But in a setback for what Washington considers the deadliest branch of the jihadist network, Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said its ideological leader Ibrahim Al Rubaish had been killed in a drone strike on Monday.

Russia, which has friendly relations with Iran, abstained from the UN Security Council vote, but did not veto the measure that was put forward by Jordan and Gulf countries and backed by the other 14 of the 15 Council members.

The Houthis have seized swathes of Yemen since they entered the capital Sanaa in September 2014 after sweeping south from their northern stronghold.

The air campaign by Saudi Arabia and a coalition of five Gulf countries along with Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Sudan has so far failed to stop the rebel advance.

The UN resolution was the first formal action taken by the Security Council since the start of the Saudi-led bombing raids.

The resolution demands that the Shiite Houthis withdraw from Sanaa and all other areas seized during their months-long offensive.

It slaps an arms embargo on Houthi leaders and their allies, a measure that Russia sought to extend to all sides in the conflict.

The resolution puts Houthi leader Abdul Malik Al Houthi and ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s eldest son, Ahmed, on a sanctions list, imposing a global travel ban and an assets freeze on the two men.

The Houthis have allied with troops loyal to Saleh, who was forced from power in 2012 following a year of nationwide protests against his three-decade rule.

Russia had demanded humanitarian pauses in Yemen but the resolution fell short of that request and instead instructed UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to intensify efforts to negotiate such ceasefires.

Tehran calls for talks 

Hadi and Gulf allies have accused Iran of arming the Houthis, which Tehran strongly denies.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tuesday that Tehran was proposing “a ceasefire followed by all inclusive Yemeni dialogue that is facilitated by others, leading to the formation of a government in Yemen that represents a broadly based community”.

Hadi, who has taken refuge in Riyadh, is considered the legitimate head of state by the United Nations, and Saudi Arabia launched the air strikes at his request.

Saudi warplanes pounded rebel positions again overnight in the battleground southern city of Aden, where Hadi had taken refuge before fleeing the country last month as the Houthis approached, residents said.

Violent clashes between rival forces also rocked several central districts, residents said.

Prince Zeid said attacks on hospitals and on civilians unconnected to the fighting were war crimes.

“Any suspected breach of international law must be urgently investigated with a view to ensuring victims’ right to justice and redress and to ensure that such incidents do not recur,” he said.

Before the latest chaos erupted, Yemen had been a key US ally in the fight against Al Qaeda, allowing Washington to carry out longstanding drone attacks on its territory.

AQAP said Rubaish, its Saudi-born ideological leader who spent several years in the US military prison in Guantanamo, was killed with several other militants in a “crusader raid” on Monday.

The Houthi rebels have faced resistance from Al Qaeda as well as Hadi loyalists and armed tribesmen in their push south.

Operations were suspended at Yemen’s only gas export terminal in the southern province of Shabwa on Tuesday after tribesmen drove out soldiers guarding the site, accusing them of links to the rebels.

The tribesmen pledged not to interfere in operations at the Balhaf Plant, operated by Yemen LNG, in which France’s Total has a stake of almost 40 per cent.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama met Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi in the White House on Tuesday and hailed the US-backed Iraqi forces' progress against Daesh terror group.

Obama said the allies were "making serious progress" in pushing back the jihadists and thanked Abadi for living up to his commitment to make Iraq's government more inclusive.

"Success won't occur overnight" Obama said, "but what is clear is that we will be successful".

Embarking on his inaugural prime ministerial trip to Washington, Abadi had said his top priority would be to secure a "marked increase" in the US-led air campaign and in the "delivery of arms".

Obama did not give that commitment in public, but said the meeting had dealt extensively with coordinating the next steps and possible US help.

Obama also announced an additional $200 million in aid for those displaced or harmed by Daesh’s activities.

Swaths of Iraq, including the second city Mosul and the vast western province of Anbar, are still occupied by militants bent on establishing an Islamic “caliphate”.

Abadi renewed a pledged to “liberate” those areas.

But his armed forces, ravaged by years of war, desertion and underfunding, have struggled to get on the front foot.

To defend Baghdad and other key points the government has leaned heavily on US-led airstrikes and Shiite militia, which Washington says are controlled by Iran.

Obama called for those fighters to fall under government control, urging all actors to “respect Iraq’s sovereignty”.

Abadi said he welcomed help in fighting Daesh, but would “reject any transgression of Iraqi sovereignty”.

The presence of Shiite militia in Sunni-dominated towns and villages has also raised the specter of further ethnic violence that has long plagued Iraq.

Abadi promised his government would have “zero tolerance” of rights abuses and anyone involved in atrocities against civilians would be brought to book.

OBOCK, Djibouti — Refugees from war-torn Yemen describe the terror of intense air strikes as they arrive in the Horn of Africa, where aid agencies are fearing an influx of people.

On the sun-blasted shores of Djibouti, those who have taken a perilous boat ride across the Gulf of Aden describe the horror of the air strikes that pounded their homes in Yemen.

"Suddenly the planes came and air strikes hit," said Murisala Mohamed Ahmed, a community leader from Yemen's Bab Al Mandeb region, the key shipping channel at the entrance to the Red Sea that separates Africa from Arabia.

"The military positions were near, and we feared for the children... we had to come to Djibouti," he added, crossing the narrow straits to the Horn of Africa, only 30 kilometres wide at its narrowest point.

"We came on small boats, our own boats. Whole families came — 30 families with 200 people."

Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels have seized swathes of territory in Yemen since they entered the capital Sanaa in September 2014, forcing government forces to flee.

While just a few hundred refugees from Yemen have registered in Djibouti in recent weeks, the UN refugee agency UNHCR says preparations are being made for many more.

Djibouti, a key port for the Horn of Africa, is already stretched with the refugees it hosts: the tiny nation of some 850,000 people looks after some 28,000 mainly Somali refugees.

"Djibouti has a long tradition of hosting refugees from the different countries in the region," said UNHCR spokesman in Djibouti Frederic Van Hamme.

"It is a big pressure for a small country like Djibouti to receive a large number of refugees."

Many are now being looked after in the small Port of Obock, on Djibouti's northern shores, bringing with them "terrible stories linked to war”, Van Hamme said.

"The journey was on a diesel tanker boat... for two days with no proper seats," said Abdallah Mourad Abdo, a journalism student from Yemen's southern key Port of Aden. "We could see airstrikes. It was terrifying."

Yemen slid deeper into turmoil after a Saudi-led air campaign began on March 26 to push back the rebels' advance after they forced President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to flee the country.

"I love my country, I don't want to leave it but the situation is terrible," said Shahira Shehbaz, a university student from Aden. "We just ran away from there by the boat."

In Yemen, more than 600 people have died and 2,000 been wounded in the fighting, according to UN figures.

The war in Yemen, pitting supporters of the president against Shiite rebels, has reversed the refugee flow in the region, which has seen refugees flee the Horn of Africa for Yemen, where they accounted for nearly all the 250,000 refugees registered in the Middle East country.

'More trying to leave' 

Almost a thousand Somali refugees have landed in northern Somalia this month, according to the UN refugee agency.

"Though numbers are not big so far, we anticipate they could grow and we are preparing accordingly," said Carlotta Wolf, UNHCR Somalia spokeswoman. "All groups that arrived in Somalia say more people are trying to leave from Yemen."

After almost three weeks of the Saudi-led air campaign, the situation is rapidly deteriorating, particularly in Aden where humanitarian groups are struggling to deliver aid.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned on Sunday of a huge humanitarian crisis as "civilian casualties are mounting and public infrastructure is being destroyed".

But as people flee the war, refugees apparently unware of the violence in Yemen still continue to arrive.

UNHCR says that the Yemeni Red Crescent is "registering hundreds of asylum-seekers who continue to arrive on Yemen's shores", describing how "these desperate people, mostly Somalis and Ethiopians, are either unaware of the situation or in the hands of smugglers and unable to escape their journeys”.

But in Djibouti, the refugees who have reached safety mourn the loss of their old lives, unsure of what they will do next.

"Our complaints to Allah is against those who made us flee and put us in this situation," Ahmed said. "Now we feel lost and we don't know what is going to happen to us."

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel began Tuesday allowing Palestinian medical staff working in the country to enter from the West Bank with their own vehicles, a first in 15 years, a defence ministry body said.

COGAT, the coordinating body for Israeli government policy in the Palestinian territories, said it had "approved for Palestinian doctors who work shifts and other jobs that require heightened responsiveness in hospitals in Israel to enter Israel with their vehicles".

Permits were being issued immediately, it said.

"For the first time since 2000, Palestinian vehicles are entering Israel," COGAT said, adding that the move was aimed to "assist doctors in completing their life-saving mission".

After the outbreak of the second Intifada, or uprising in 2000, Palestinian cars were banned entering from the West Bank and Gaza Strip for "national security reasons", a spokesman said.

Vehicles with Palestinian plates are also prohibited from using Israeli-controlled roads that run through parts of the West Bank.

On Wednesday, Palestinian police were deployed for the first time in three areas of the West Bank near occupied East Jerusalem, in an effort to target "criminals" and in coordination with Israeli security forces, officials on both sides said.

That came despite a Palestinian threat to end security coordination with Israel — which relies heavily on them to prevent attacks by West Bank fighters — after Israel withheld tax revenues due to the Palestinian Authority earlier this year.

That was in retaliation for the Palestinians joining the International Criminal Court, through which they intend to pursue Israeli officials for alleged war crimes.

Israel is under additional pressure on the international stage after a spat between the US administration and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who swore during his successful reelection campaign in March to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu subsequently backtracked, saying instead that conditions were not currently ripe for a state.

The international community supports the two-state solution as the only path to peace.

MOGADISHU – Somalia's Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabab militants on Tuesday blasted their way into the higher education ministry with a car bomb before storming the building, killing 15 people.

Police and witnesses said the car bomb caused a huge explosion which allowed the gunmen to force their way into the fortified building.

Ambulance officials said at least 15 people were killed and 20 wounded in the attack.

Six Al Shabab gunmen were also killed, with two of those blowing themselves up, internal security ministry spokesman Mohamed Yusuf Osman said.

Abdukadir Abdirahman Adan, head of Mogadishu's ambulance services, told reporters his crews had taken about 15 dead bodies and 20 wounded civilians to hospital.

Troops backed by African Union soldiers regained control of the building after around an hour-long attack, which began when "a car loaded with explosives rammed the gate", police officer Mohamed Dahir said

"The security forces and AU peacekeepers shot and killed four of the attackers, while the other two blew up themselves," Osman told reporters.

Witness Idil Malim said bodies of those killed and wounded lay around the complex.

"There were several people lying dead at the scene," he said.

Al Shabab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab claimed responsiblity, boasting that their gunmen had been "fully in control" of the ministry, as well as entering a neighbouring building housing the oil ministry.

The building is in the K5 district of the capital, which has been hit by a string of similar attacks in recent months.

Al Shabab rebels stage regular attacks in the capital as part of their fight against the country's internationally backed government and African Union forces supporting it.

Complex attack 

A car bombing to force entry into fortified buildings followed by an armed raid has become a trademark tactic of the hardline Islamists.

Somalia has been unstable since the collapse of Siad Barre's hardline regime in 1991, and the country's new government is being supported by a 22,000-strong African Union force that includes troops from Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.

Al Shabab fighters have carried out a string of revenge attacks in neighbouring countries, notably Kenya and Uganda, in response to their participation in the AU force.

It carried out its deadliest attack yet earlier this month, when Al Shabab gunmen massacred 148 people in a day-long siege of a university in Kenya's northeastern town of Garissa.

The attack on the university was the Al Shabab's bloodiest massacre and Kenya's worst since the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi.

Al Shabab later warned of a "long, gruesome war" unless Kenya withdraws its troops from Somalia, as well as warning the government in Mogadishu it would continue to attack them on home soil.

Al Shabab fighters also carried out the Westgate shopping mall attack in Nairobi in September 2013, a four-day siege which left at least 67 people dead.

Last month Al Shahab gunmen in Mogadishu stormed the fortified Maka Al Mukarama hotel, used by politicians, diplomats and businessmen.

Despite losing significant territory in recent months Al Shabab group, whose name means "youth" in Arabic, still manages to launch frequent attacks as part of its fight to overthrow the government.

Last week the government in Mogadishu issued bounties for 11 top leaders of Al Shabab, with $250,000 offered for the extremist's chief, Ahmad Umar.

MADRID — Iran will resume talks with world powers on a final nuclear agreement on April 21 and is ready to take "irreversible steps" if the West does the same, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tuesday in Spain.

"My team, the assistant to [EU foreign policy chief Federica] Mogherini and the other representatives of the 5+1 [global powers] will meet next Tuesday to begin drafting the text," he told a conference in Madrid.

He did not say where the talks would take place but later gave more details about his country's position.

"This is the framework under which we will operate with the 5+1 group: [there will be] irreversible steps on the Iranian side as long as their side takes irreversible steps. It is a very balanced approach," said Zarif, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator.

He was referring to the so-called P5+1 powers — Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany — who have been negotiating with Iran to end the 12-year standoff over its nuclear programme.

The six countries made a major breakthrough at talks with Iran on April 2 by agreeing on the parameters for a final deal to scale back its nuclear capabilities.

But the negotiators still have a series of technical issues to resolve by a June 30 deadline for a final deal, including the steps for lifting sanctions imposed on Iran.

"Iran will take all the measures that are required in the initial phase, all the measures," Zarif added during a joint news conference with his Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo.

"If we are going to reduce the number of centrifuges we will do that in the first days, we are also called to redesign the Arak reactors into another hardwater reactor, we will do that in the initial steps," he added.

Western powers want Iran to re-design a planned research reactor at Arak to cut its potential output of plutonium, one of the materials needed to produce a nuclear bomb.

Oil-rich Iran denies Western claims that it is seeking to make a nuclear bomb.

'Congress is their problem' 

Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who will have the final say on any deal, has cast doubt over the accord, saying that "nothing is binding".

President Hassan Rouhani has demanded that sanctions be lifted as soon as any deal is signed.

Zarif said that all the elements "required for the lifting of sanctions will take place in the first phase".

The P5+1 have said sanctions will only be gradually eased and want a mechanism to ensure they can be swiftly reimposed if Iran breaks its word.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has come under fire at home for pushing the deal, with many US lawmakers still wary of Iran, a long-time US foe, which has not had full diplomatic relations with Washington for 35 years.

Republican Senator Bob Corker, who has co-sponsored a bill that would give Congress the power to review any final deal, said Monday he might be garnering enough support to overcome any veto by President Barack Obama.

Zarif said he expected Washington to lift the sanctions.

"On the American side, we behold the government of the United States to be responsable," he said, adding that obtaining approval from Congress was "their problem".

"As far as we are concerned, they have to terminate the implementation of those sanctions and that is their legal obligation," he said.

Spain currently chairs the United Nations Sanctions Committee.

"We will try to reach a consensus so the sanctions disappear as Iran adopts the measures it has committed itself to do," Garcia-Margallo.

PARIS — Russia's decision to supply Iran with the S-300 missile air defence system was seen by critics in Israel and the United States as proof this month's framework nuclear agreement was already making Tehran more of a threat.

But some experts said the controversial move could make it difficult for Iran's enemies to propose air strikes against its nuclear facilities, thus bolstering the case for a diplomatic solution.

Israel was predictably angered by Russia's decision to arm its arch-foe.

"Instead of demanding that Iran desist from the terrorist activity that it is carrying out in the Middle East and throughout the world, it is being allowed to arm itself with advanced weapons that will only increase its aggression," said Israel's Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz.

The United States took a similar line, with State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf saying: "We think given Iran's destabilising actions in the region, in places like Yemen or Syria or Lebanon, that this isn't the time to be selling these kinds of system to them."

But some analysts said Russia's decision was in line with its hopes to secure a lasting deal that will stop Iran building a nuclear bomb and removed global sanctions on the Islamic republic.

"The goal of the Russians is certainly not to help out the West, but nor do they want to see a nuclear Iran," said Francois Heisbourg, chairman of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.

"This S-300 deal could be a way of ensuring Tehran stays in line with the negotiations."

The announcement serves two purposes — demonstrating to Tehran the advantages of sticking with the nuclear talks, while also making military alternatives more difficult for its opponents, said Jeremy Binnie, Middle East editor of IHS Jane's Defence Weekly in London.

"It is a carrot to Iran. But it is also a stick against US and Israeli officials who say the military option is still on the table," he said.

Israel and many US officials, particularly among the Republicans, have opposed the nuclear accord, saying air strikes are the only way to prevent Iran getting the bomb.

'Dark arts of' 

Iran currently lacks the sort of sophisticated air defences that could take down modern fighter planes.

The capabilities of the S-300 are not fully known and have yet to be tested in a real-world combat situation.

"We are talking about the really dark arts of air defence here," said Binnie.

But the S-300 would be a major upgrade of the country's defences, and the updated V-series being offered by Russia will also allow Iran to intercept missiles fired by regional foes such as Saudi Arabia.

It may not be a match for the latest US planes, said Andrey Bablitskiy, from the PIR think tank in Moscow, "but they could make an operation more costly and make them think twice".

Iran has also invested heavily in radar and jamming technology to help spot stealth bombers and other foreign aircraft — capabilities it demonstrated when it brought down a US spy drone in 2011.

Despite calls from hawks in Washington and elsewhere, it has never been clear whether enemy air strikes could have "a meaningful impact" on Iran's nuclear capabilities even without a high-performance defence system, said Binnie.

"They can get an aircraft over Iran, but can they carry enough bombs and can those bombs have enough penetration ability? It would be hard," he said.

Offensive or defensive? 

Nor is it certain whether Russia had to ban the supply of the S-300 system in the first place.

The original sale was agreed in 2007, and was only called off by Russia two years later as a "voluntary" move to show its dedication to the nuclear talks, in which it is working alongside fellow UN Security Council permanent members the US, Britain, China, and France plus Germany.

Loopholes meant the S-300 system could possibly have been exempted from the sanctions regime on the grounds it is only a defensive system.

"It's debatable," said Binnie. "It has a range of 300km that means it could shoot down aircraft in another country's airspace, and you could use it for surface-to-surface missiles.

"But you wouldn't want to — it is not designed for that and would not be very accurate."

Despite its statement against the S-300 deal, the US has effectively accepted that Iran will soon resume arms purchases.

Its criticism may have been designed simply to placate allies in the region such as Israel and Saudi Arabia that have been deeply distrustful of the peace process.

"[The Americans] weren't rolling on the floor in a rage," said Heisbourg. "Their protest felt like it was just for show."

ALGIERS — Talks between Libya's rival parliaments on forging a unity government for the violence-wracked country have been a "great success", the UN envoy said Tuesday, but there were no signs of a major breakthrough.

"The result of the second round of dialogue is a great success," Bernardino Leon said in Algiers. "The Libyan parties have succeeded in finding a common position on most of the points of a draft accord presented by the United Nations."

Representatives of the two sides are to resume the UN-brokered talks in Morocco Thursday, a diplomat in Rabat told AFP.

That is a day later than planned by the United Nations and comes despite a statement adopted unanimously by the Security Council late Monday saying it awaited the resumption of talks "with impatience".

Libya has been gripped by chaos and violence since its 2011 revolution that toppled and killed veteran dictator Muammar Qadhafi.

It has had rival administrations and parliaments since an Islamist-backed militia alliance seized the capital in August, prompting the internationally recognised government to take refuge in the east.

The resulting power struggle has been exploited by the Daesh group to establish a growing presence to the alarm of the international community.

The Tripoli parliament — the General National Congress — confirmed that it would attend the talks in Skhirat outside Rabat.

"Our delegation will arrive on Wednesday to start a new round of negotiations," GNC member Mohammed Saleh Al Makhzum told AFP.

Meanwhile, former GNC vice president Abdelhafid Ghoka said in Algiers that the sides had agree in principle on forming a unity government but that differences remained over the future parliament.

"The government will consist of people who have no other nationality than the Libyan one," he said, adding that the fate of parliament "will be at the heart of the talks".

Ghoka said the GNC had ceased to exist with the election last June of a new parliament. That was disputed by Abdel Hakim Belhadj, head of the nationalist El Watan Party and former military commander of Tripoli.

"To say the [General] National Congress is finished is unacceptable," he said. "That is the view of one person, and the question remains open."

The Security Council, which has threatened sanctions over spiralling violence, has called on the rival sides to "agree on arrangements on the formation of a national unity government to end Libya's political, security and institutional crisis".

It also warned it was "prepared to sanction those who threaten Libya's peace, stability or security or that obstruct or undermine the successful completion of its political transition".

SYDNEY — Australia said Tuesday 330 troops were heading to Iraq for two years to train local soldiers fighting jihadists including Daesh terror group, joining an aerial and special forces contingent in the region.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the troops would be deployed from Wednesday and operate from the massive Taji base complex north of Baghdad alongside 100 soldiers from New Zealand.

They were mostly drawn from the army's 7th Brigade based in Brisbane, he added.

"We won't have a combat role. It's a training mission not a combat mission," Abbott told reporters of the deployment, which was first flagged in early March following a request by the United States and Iraq governments.

"Our building partner capacity mission is all about trying to ensure that the legitimate government of Iraq has a trained and disciplined and capable force that understands the rules of armed conflict at its disposal to retake the territory which is currently under the control of the death cult [Daesh].”

"What we'll be doing [in Taji] is comparable to what a number of other countries are doing," Abbott added, pointing to Germany's Erbil mission in Kurdish areas and a Spanish mission at Besmaya south of Baghdad.

The announcement came as the US, which is leading an air campaign against Daesh, said the jihadists had lost control of "25 to 30" per cent of the territory it holds in Iraq after coalition air strikes and an Iraqi offensive.

The radical group took control of large swathes of the north and western parts of the country months ago after an offensive and the collapse of Iraqi military units.

Some 170 Australian special forces are already in Iraq helping train government troops. Eight F/A18s based in the United Arab Emirates are also taking part in air strikes against Daesh militants.

Abbott said the special forces contingent were set to complete their mission in the third-quarter of this year.

Canberra has boosted security measures at home amid fears of heightened threats from Daesh-inspired extremists, with about 90 Australians thought to be fighting with the group in Iraq and Syria.

BEIRUT — Eyewitness accounts and evidence collected from Syria's northwestern Idlib province "strongly" suggest regime forces dropped toxic chemicals on civilians several times last month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday.

A high-ranking Syrian security official denied the claim, saying the accusations were "lies the insurgents say when they incur losses".

The report came as a monitor said at least 12 people were killed on Tuesday in a barrel bomb attack in the province.

HRW said the chemicals appeared to have been packed into crude explosives-filled barrels that were dropped by military helicopter on rebel-held areas during heavy fighting for the city of Idlib.

"Evidence strongly suggests that Syrian government forces used toxic chemicals in several barrel bomb attacks in Idlib governorate between March 16 and 31, 2015," the New York-based group said.

It called on the UN Security Council to investigate what would be a breach of both its own resolutions and Damascus's obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention.

HRW said it had investigated six reported attacks in Idlib and villages outside, collecting evidence from rescue workers and other civilians that provided a compelling case in three of them.

The most conclusive evidence came from a March 16 attack on the village of Sarmin, which left a family of six, including three children, dead, and an attack on Idlib city on March 31.

"The children were foaming at the mouth, they were suffocating, then their hearts stopped," said Leith Fares, a rescue worker in Sarmin.

HRW said it could not conclusively establish the chemical used, but volunteers from the Syrian Civil Defence said they found remnants of barrel bombs at attack sites and smelled chlorine gas on victims' clothes.

The Syrian security official told AFP these were "lies" that armed rebels spread to "explain their failures to their funders".

"If the army used chemical weapons or chlorine gas every time they say it did, those people would have been completely wiped out by now," he said.

Regime ignoring UN — HRW

The world's chemical weapons watchdog had already expressed "serious concern" on March 25 over the reported use of toxic agents in Idlib province.

In January, it reported the use of chlorine gas in three attacks on three Syrian villages last year.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons did not attribute responsibility for those attacks, although its report cited witnesses saying they heard helicopters, which only the regime possesses.

In early March, the UN Security Council adopted a US-drafted resolution condemning the use of chlorine in Syria and threatening sanctions if the chemicals were used again.

"The Syrian government appears to be thumbing its nose at the Security Council and international law yet again," HRW's deputy Middle East director, Nadim Houry, said.

Damascus did not have to declare its stocks of chlorine under a 2013 agreement to dismantle its chemical arsenal as the substance is widely used for commercial and domestic purposes.

But using the gas for military purposes would be a breach of its undertakings under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which it signed as part of the deal.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, reported at least 12 people were killed Tuesday in a regime barrel bomb attack on the town of Saraqeb in Idlib province.

The group said the toll was expected to rise because a number of the wounded were in a serious condition.

And in the southern province of Daraa, at least six children were killed in barrel bomb attacks on Al Krak, the Observatory said.

More than 215,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began with anti-government protests in March 2011 that spiralled into a war after a regime crackdown.