EU Urges Political Solution in Syria After Chemical Attack

(Bloomberg) -- The European Union urged a political solution in Syria after at least 50 people were killed in a chemical attack in the province of Idlib.

“We all understand that there can only be a political solution; there can never be a military solution in Syria,” EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said on Tuesday at a conference on Syria in Brussels hosted by the 28-nation bloc.  He acknowledged that such an outcome is unlikely “very soon.”

The gas attack “has apparently killed more than 50 people,” Hahn said.

France condemned the “particularly serious” chemical attack and called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said in a statement.

--With assistance from Gregory Viscusi

To contact the reporter on this story: Jones Hayden in Brussels at jhayden1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net, Andrew Atkinson, Kevin Costelloe

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