SyriaUN report indicates Syrian army used chlorine in April attacks on rebel-held villages

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said that a toxic chemical, probably chlorine, was used as a weapon to attack three Syrian villages in April. The UN watchdog said the conclusion is based on months of investigation by a fact-finding team.

The OPCW thus indicates that the Syrian government was continuing to use chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war even though it had agreed to give up its chemical arsenal and destroy its chemical weapons manufacturing plants.

The agency on Wednesday said in a statement from its headquarters in The Hague that the information its team had collected provided “compelling evidence” that the toxic chemical was used “systematically and repeatedly” in Talmanes, Al Tamanah, and Kafr Zet, three villages in northern Syria.

It said it had “a high degree of confidence that chlorine, pure or in mixture, is the toxic chemical in question,” based on the descriptions, physical properties, behavior of the gas, and signs and symptoms resulting from exposure, as well as the way victims responded to treatment.

The New York Times reports that the agency investigators did not specify who had launched the chlorine attacks, but the full report, which so far has been shared only with governments, leaves little doubt that the Syrian government was responsible for the attacks.

Michael Luhan, OPCW spokesman, told the Times that witnesses cited in the report saw bombs dropped from high-flying helicopters which released the gas on impact. Of all the actors in the civil war, only the Syrian military has the ability to conduct such aerial attacks.

The investigators are continuing to investigate allegations of subsequent chlorine attacks, including reports of such attacks last month.

The latest report by OPCW reinforces the finding of a UN panel investigating human rights violations in Syria. The panel released a report in August saying that chlorine attacks had been carried out.

The chemical weapons investigators based their findings on dozens of interviews with victims, doctors, emergency medical workers, and witnesses to the attacks, as well as a large volume of documentation which included videos, medical records, and other documents.

OPCW has completed the destruction of Syria’s declared stockpile of toxic agents and precursor chemicals, but Western governments and analysts say Syria did not declare its entire stockpile and may still have some deadly chemicals that could fall into the hands of Islamic extremists.

Luhan said that a data assessment team has visited Syria three times in recent weeks to address these concerns, but that the team has yet to receive responses from Syrian officials which will satisfy the West.

The organization said that plans are underway to destroy the last twelve chemical weapons production facilities in Syria. Seven aboveground facilities are to be razed, and five underground facilities permanently sealed.