A global chemical weapons watchdog group released the results of a nearly two-year investigation into the use of chemical weapons in Douma, Syria, in 2018 on Friday, concluding that Syrian government forces were behind the attack.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said it had “reasonable grounds” to believe that “at least one” Syrian Tiger Forces Elite Unit helicopter “dropped two yellow cylinders containing toxic chlorine gas on two apartment buildings in an area inhabited by civilians”. .”
He April 7 attack killed 43 people and injured 500 more, most of whom were women and children.
A man stands on the rubble of damaged buildings after an air strike in the rebel-held town of Mesraba in the eastern Damascus suburb of Ghouta, Syria, on November 26, 2017.
(Reuters)
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The OPCW’s Investigation and Identification Team (IIT) gathered witness evidence, satellite imagery, and authenticated video and photos to put together the 139-page report.
It also relied on forensic analysis, gas dispersion modeling, and approximately two terabytes of data to develop multiple scenarios for how the attack could have occurred.
The watchdog agency said it considered claims by the Syrian government and its Russian-backed allies that opposition forces were behind the attack and that it had been “organized by armed terrorist groups” who used bleach items or household pesticides.
“The symptoms of the victims are, in general, consistent with exposure to chlorine gas in very high concentrations. After evaluating and corroborating the pertinent material, the toxicologist consulted by the IIT concluded that the accounts of the victims and medical personnel were consistent with the rapid release of a high dose of chlorine gas, which led to the rapid and high mortality rate,” the report read.
“The information obtained by the IIT indicates that, at the time period in which the incident occurred, the airspace above Douma was controlled exclusively by the Syrian Arab Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces. While the IIT evaluated the information showing that other States carried out airstrikes and operations on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic in April 2018, has not obtained any information suggesting that forces opposing the authorities of the Syrian Arab Republic carried out attacks air raids in eastern Ghouta (including Douma),” the report continued. .
Investigators say the attack was carried out as part of a great military offensive by Syrian government forces to retake the key rebel stronghold and return control to President Bashar al-Assad.
World leaders expressed their horror and outrage over the chemical attack after images surfaced of civilians lying dead in their apartment buildings and foaming at the mouth. The 2018 attack sparked precision military strikes against government forces led by the United States, Britain and France.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the operation managed the “clandestine chemical arsenal”.
“We cannot tolerate the trivialization of chemical weapons, which is an immediate danger to the Syrian people and our collective security,” Macron said.
Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Saturday denying the conclusions of the OPCW report, saying that it “totally rejects” the “lack of [of] scientific and objective evidence.” Assad has repeatedly denied that his forces were responsible for gassing civilians, instead blaming terrorists and opposition forces.
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Eastern Ghouta, a predominantly Sunni Muslim farming city located about six miles from the capital Damascus, was the first city to be hit by chemical weapons in 2013.
November 29, 2012: Night falls in an area of Aleppo controlled by Syrian rebels as destroyed buildings, including the Dar Al-Shifa hospital, are seen on Sa’ar Street after airstrikes hit the area a week earlier.
(AP)
The OPCW watchdog group said the sarin gas attack killed hundreds of civilians and remains the deadliest case of the use of chemical weapons since the Syrian civil war began in 2011.
Approximately six million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes and hundreds of thousands more have been killed, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency.
OPCW Director General Ambassador Fernando Arias said that “the use of chemical weapons in Douma, and elsewhere, is unacceptable and a violation of international law.”
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“The world now knows the facts: it is up to the international community to take action at the OPCW and beyond,” Arias said.
