‘Compelling’ evidence of chlorine attacks by Syria regime
The global chemical weapons watchdog unearths “compelling eyewitness evidence” of the use of chlorine weapons by the Syrian regime.
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The latest findings offer further evidence that the Syrian government has repeatedly attacked its own citizens with poison gas, said Samantha Power, US Ambassador to the United Nations.
Chemical weapons (CW) investigators from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) concluded “with a high degree of confidence” that chlorine gas was used in weapon form against three Syrian villages last year.
The watchdog said three attacks during 2014 killed 13 people and affected 350-500 more. It said 26 people heard the “whistling” sound of falling barrel bombs containing toxic chemicals.
Latest OPCW report: 32 witnesses saw or heard sound of helicopters as bombs struck; 29 smelled chlorine. Only Syrian regime uses helos.
— Samantha Power (@AmbassadorPower) January 6, 2015
Commenting after a meeting of the UN Security Council (UNSC), Ms Power said the report reinforced allegations that the Syrian government used chlorine gas as a weapon in its four-year-old civil war after pledging to give up its chemical arsenal.
“UNSC met on Syria CW today and reviewed more compelling eyewitness evidence of chlorine gas use by Syrian regime,” Ms Power tweeted.
“32 witnesses saw or heard sound of helicopters as bombs struck; 29 smelled chlorine,” she added. “Only Syrian regime uses helos [helicopters].”
The third report by the OPCW includes eyewitness evidence of helicopters dropping barrel bombs with toxic chemicals.
The conclusions back up two previous reports by the OPCW but provide much greater detail, including a description of 142 videos and 189 pieces of material gathered by the watchdog.
Regime must be shown it is not enough to destroy declared CW; must stop dropping chemical-laden explosives on civilians.
— Samantha Power (@AmbassadorPower) January 6, 2015
The report described photos of impact sites and the inner chlorine cylinder from a barrel bomb, and includes a screen-grab from a video provided by one of the witnesses to some of the attacks – it shows a yellow cloud about 50 metres high after the impact of a barrel with toxic chemicals.
The report does not say who used chemical weapons. Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari declined to comment.
The alleged chlorine attacks took place in the villages of Talmanes, Al Tamanah and Kafr Zita.
Most were alleged to have occurred in April and May 2014, and there were two alleged attacks in Talmanes, five in Al Tamanah, and 14 in Kafr Zita, where the most recent was alleged to have happened on 30 August.
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A sarin gas attack in August 2013 killed hundreds of civilians in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, and triggered and effort to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons programme.
The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and rebel forces blamed each other for the Ghouta strike and other chemical weapons attacks – but western governments blame Mr Assad.
The UNSC unanimously adopted a resolution on 27 September 2013 ordering Syria to secure and destroy its chemical weapons stockpile.
Chlorine gas is not categorised as a chemical weapon, but eight council members – including the US – said in a letter accompanying the report that the use of any chemical weapons must be condemned.
Faysal Mekdad,Syria’s deputy foreign minister, told an OPCW meeting in December that his regime had not used chemical weapons or chlorine during the civil war.
