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Sarin is an extremely toxic synthetic organophosphorus compound. A colourless, odourless liquid, it is used as a chemical weapon due to its extreme potency as a nerve agent. Exposure is lethal even at very low concentrations, where death can occur within one to ten minutes after direct inhalation of a lethal dose, due to suffocation from respiratory paralysis, unless antidotes are quickly administered. People who absorb a non-lethal dose and do not receive immediate medical treatment may suffer permanent neurological damage.
Syria and weapons of mass destruction deals with the research, manufacture, stockpiling and alleged use by Syria of weapons of mass destruction, which include chemical and nuclear weapons.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from January to April 2013. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
There have been numerous reports of chemical weapons attacks in the Syrian Civil War, beginning in 2012, and corroborated by national governments, the United Nations (UN), the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Human Rights Watch (HRW), and media organizations. The attacks occurred in different areas of Syria, including Khan al-Assal, Jobar, Saraqib, Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, Kafr Zita, Talmenes, Sarmin and Douma. The deadliest attacks were the August 2013 sarin attack in Ghouta, the April 2017 sarin attack in Khan Shaykhun and April 2018 Douma chemical attacks. The most common agent used is chlorine, with sarin and sulphur mustard also reported. Almost half of the attacks between 2014 and 2018 were delivered via aircraft and less than a quarter were delivered from the ground, with the remaining attacks having an undetermined method of delivery. Since the start of uprisings across Syria in 2011, Syrian Arab Armed Forces and pro-Assad paramilitary forces have been implicated in more than 300 chemical attacks in Syria.
The Ghouta chemical attack, was a chemical attack carried out by the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in the early hours of 21 August 2013 in Ghouta, Syria during the Syrian civil war. Two opposition-controlled areas in the suburbs around Damascus were struck by rockets containing the chemical agent sarin. Estimates of the death toll range from at least 281 people to 1,729. The attack was the deadliest use of chemical weapons since the Iran–Iraq War.
The Khan al-Assal chemical attack was a chemical attack in Khan al-Assal, Aleppo, Syria on 19 March 2013, which according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights resulted in at least 26 fatalities including 16 government soldiers and 10 civilians, and more than 86 injuries. Immediately after the incident, the Syrian government and opposition accused each other of carrying out the attack, but neither side presented clear documentation. The Syrian government asked the United Nations to investigate the incident, but disputes over the scope of that investigation led to lengthy delays. In the interim, the Syrian government invited Russia to send specialists to investigate the incident. Samples taken at the site led them to conclude that the attack involved the use of sarin, which matched the assessment made by the United States. Russia held the opposition responsible for the attack, while the US held the government responsible. UN investigators finally arrived on the ground in Syria in August, but their arrival coincided with the much larger-scale 2013 Ghouta attacks which took place on 21 August, pushing the Khan al-Assal investigation "onto the backburner" according to a UN spokesman. The UN report, which was completed on 12 December, found "likely use of chemical weapons in Khan al-Assal" and assessed that organophosphate poisoning was the cause of the "mass intoxication".
Syria's chemical weapons program began in the 1970s with weapons and training from Egypt and the Soviet Union, with production of chemical weapons in Syria beginning in the mid-1980s. For some time, Syria was believed to have the world's third-largest stockpile of chemical weapons, after the United States and Russia. Prior to September 2013 Syria had not publicly admitted to possessing chemical weapons, although Western intelligence services believed it to hold one of the world's largest stockpiles. In September 2013, French intelligence put the Syrian stockpile at 1,000 tonnes, including Yperite, VX and "several hundred tonnes of sarin". At the time, Syria was one of a handful of states which had not ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. In September 2013, Syria joined the CWC, and agreed to the destruction of its weapons, to be supervised by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), as required by the convention. A joint OPCW-United Nations mission was established to oversee the destruction process. Syria joined OPCW after international condemnation of the August 2013 Ghouta chemical attack, for which Western states held the Syrian government responsible and agreed to the prompt destruction of its chemical weapons, resulting in U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry declaring on 20 July 2014: "we struck a deal where we got 100 percent of the chemical weapons out." The destruction of Syria's chemical weapons that the Assad government had declared was completed by August 2014, yet further disclosures, incomplete documentation, and allegations of withholding part of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile since mean that serious concerns regarding chemical weapons and related sites in Syria remain. On 5 April 2017, the government of Syria allegedly unleashed a chemical attack that killed 70 civilians. A suspected chemical attack on Douma on 9 April 2018 that killed at least 49 civilians has been blamed on the Syrian Government.
The destruction of Syria's chemical weapons began on 14 September 2013 after Syria entered into several international agreements which called for the elimination of Syria's chemical weapon stockpiles and set a destruction deadline of 30 June 2014. Also on 14 September 2013, Syria acceded to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and agreed to its provisional application pending its entry into force on 14 October. Having acceded to the CWC, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Executive Council on 27 September approved a detailed implementation plan that required Syria to assume responsibility for and follow a timeline for the destruction of Syrian chemical weapons and Syrian chemical weapon production facilities. Following the signing of the Framework Agreement on 14 September 2013 and after the OPCW implementation plan, on 27 September the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2118 which bound Syria to the timetable set out in the OPCW implementation plan. The joint OPCW-UN mission was established to oversee the implementation of the destruction program.
The Rif Dimashq offensive was a Syrian government forces and allies offensive in the Rif Dimashq Governorate that was launched in late March 2013, as part of the Syrian Civil War.
The Report on the Alleged Use of Chemical Weapons in the Ghouta Area of Damascus on 21 August 2013 was a 2013 report produced by a team appointed by United Nations Secretary-General (UNSG) Ban Ki-moon to investigate alleged chemical weapon attacks during the Syrian civil war. The report published on 16 September 2013 focused on the 21 August 2013 Ghouta chemical attack, which took place whilst the Mission was in Damascus to investigate prior alleged incidents, including the Khan al-Assal chemical attack in March 2013.
The 2014 Kafr Zita chemical attack occurred on 11 April 2014, in the rebel-held northern Syrian town of Kafr Zita during the Syrian Civil War. The attack reportedly wounded around 100 people and killed three. Syria's state television, SANA blamed the attack on the Islamist Al-Nusra Front using "toxic chlorine", while the opposition blamed barrel bombs dropped by government forces.
The United Nations Mission to Investigate Allegations of the Use of Chemical Weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic was a United Nations fact-finding mission to investigate possible use of chemical weapons in Syria. The mission was established by the U.N. Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon on 21 March 2013 to investigate the 19 March 2013 Khan al-Assal chemical attack that was brought to the Secretary-general's attention by the Syrian Government. On 27 March 2013, the secretary-general appointed Åke Sellström to head the mission. The mission had an OPCW component headed by Scott Cairns and a WHO component headed by Maurizio Barbeschi.
The OPCW Fact-Finding Mission in Syria is a mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to investigate some possible cases of the use of toxic chemicals in Syria during the civil war, including chlorine. The 21 August 2013 Ghouta chemical attack used sarin. The OPCW-Director General Ahmet Üzümcü announced the creation of the mission on 29 April 2014. This initial mission was headed by Malik Ellahi. The Syrian Government agreed to the Mission.
The Khan Shaykhun chemical attack took place on 4 April 2017 on the town of Khan Shaykhun in the Idlib Governorate of Syria. The town was reported to have been struck by an airstrike by government forces followed by massive civilian chemical poisoning. The release of a toxic gas, which included sarin, or a similar substance, killed at least 89 people and injured more than 541, according to the opposition Idlib Health Directorate. The attack was the deadliest use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war since the Ghouta chemical attack in 2013.
The Ashrafiyat Sahnaya chemical attack took place in Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, Syria, on 25 August 2013. A group of Syrian Army soldiers were struck by an object containing sarin.
The Jobar sarin attack took place on 24 August 2013 around 11:00 in Jobar, a suburb of the Syrian capital city Damascus.
The Saraqib chemical attack is an alleged attack that was reported to take place in Saraqib in Idlib Governorate in Syria on 29 April 2013. A further attack occurred in February 2018, during which, according to the United Nations Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Investigation and Identification Team (IIT), “at least one cylinder” of chlorine gas was dropped, spreading “over a large area” and affecting at least 12 Syrians on the ground. The IIT attributed the attack to Syrian government military, specifically the Syrian Arab Army's Tiger Forces.
The 2017 Jobar offensive was a military operation launched by the Syrian Arab Army and allies against rebel positions in the eastern outskirts of Damascus city, mainly the neighbourhood of Jobar and Ayn Tarma.
The siege of Eastern Ghouta was a siege that was laid by Syrian Government forces in April 2013, to the area in eastern Ghouta held by anti-government forces since November 2012, during the Syrian civil war. The cities and villages under siege were Douma, Mesraba, Arbin, Hamouria, Saqba, Modira, Eftreis, Jisrin, as well as suburbs of Damascus Beit Sawa, Harasta, Zamalka, Ein Tarma, Hizzah and Kafr Batna. By 2016, around 400,000 people were trapped in an area just over 100 square kilometres in size, thus with a population density around 4,000 inhabitants/km2.
On 7 April 2018, a chemical warfare attack was carried out by forces of the government of Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian city of Douma. Medics and witnesses reported that it caused the deaths of between 40 and 50 people and injuries to possibly well over 100. The attack was attributed to the Syrian Army by rebel forces in Douma, and by the United States, British, and French governments. Two-year investigation of the OPCW Investigation and Identification Team (IIT) concluded in January 2023 that the Syrian Air Force perpetrated the chemical attacks during its military campaign in Douma. On 14 April 2018, the United States, France and the United Kingdom carried out a series of military strikes against multiple government sites in Syria.
References
- 1 2 3 4 Remy, Jean-Philippe (27 May 2013). "Chemical warfare in Syria". Le Monde. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
- ↑ Chulov, Martin; Borger, Julian (27 May 2013). "Syria medics treat hundreds of rebels for 'symptoms of chemical exposure'". Guardian. London. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
- 1 2 3 "United Nations Mission on Investigate Allegations of the Use of Chemical Weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic" (PDF). United Nations. 13 December 2013. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
- ↑ Zeiger, Asher; Winer, Stuart (7 April 2013). "Rebels claim Assad used chemical weapons in Damascus attack". Times of Israel. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
- 1 2 Schofield, Matthew (14 June 2013). "Chemical weapons experts still skeptical about U.S. claim that Syria used sarin". McClatchy DC. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
- ↑ Willsher, Kim (2 September 2013). "Syria crisis: French intelligence dossier blames Assad for chemical attack". Guardian. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
- ↑ "Synthèse nationale de renseignement déclassifié: Programme chimique syrien - Cas d'emploi passés d'agents chimiques par le régime Attaque chimique conduite par le régime le 21 août 2013" (PDF). 3 September 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
- ↑ "Syria/Syrian chemical programme – National executive summary of declassified intelligence" (PDF). France-Diplomatie - Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development. 3 September 2013. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
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