Nobody seems to know why. Longtime observer of the Middle East, Juan Cole seems to think that Assad might have been responsible for gas attack since his army is depleted and weary. He does not spare either side but I do not know how neutral he is. Here are two posts by him:
The Latest
And Slightly earlier.
In the earlier post, though he does not give any evidence to show that the Syrian government is responsible, he says "Some Syrian military units have a chem team in case they face being overwhelmed by a more numerous enemy. The Syrian army was 300,000 before the war. It is at most 50,000 now. That number is not sufficient to control the whole country, though with the help of the Lebanese Hizbullah and Iraqi militias and some Afghans dragooned by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, plus vigorous Russian air support, they have been able to fight off the rebels and to take most urban areas. The small number of troops means that when they fight in a rebel-held territory like Idlib Province, they are tempted to deploy chemical weapons to offset their small numbers."
With he propaganda by the governments being what it is, we may never know, as in the MH 17 case.
The Latest
And Slightly earlier.
In the earlier post, though he does not give any evidence to show that the Syrian government is responsible, he says "Some Syrian military units have a chem team in case they face being overwhelmed by a more numerous enemy. The Syrian army was 300,000 before the war. It is at most 50,000 now. That number is not sufficient to control the whole country, though with the help of the Lebanese Hizbullah and Iraqi militias and some Afghans dragooned by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, plus vigorous Russian air support, they have been able to fight off the rebels and to take most urban areas. The small number of troops means that when they fight in a rebel-held territory like Idlib Province, they are tempted to deploy chemical weapons to offset their small numbers."
With he propaganda by the governments being what it is, we may never know, as in the MH 17 case.
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