UN: If confirmed, chemical attacks in Mosul a war crime

The United Nations warned that UN: If confirmed, the alleged use of chemical weapons in Mosul would be considered a war crime and a serious violation of international humanitarian law, according to a statement released Saturday.

"This is horrible," Lise Grande, the humanitarian coordinator in Iraq said in the statement, "there is never justification—none whatsoever—for the use of chemical weapons."

The alleged attack occurred this week in eastern Mosul, an area declared fully liberated by Iraqi forces in January. The attack hit a neighborhood along the Tigris River, which roughly divides the city in two. Doctors in an urgent care hospital in the nearby city of Irbil say they began receiving patients showing symptoms of chemical weapons exposure on Thursday.