Israel: Syrian Government Made 30 Poison Gas Attacks Since August

Israel: Syrian Government Made 30 Poison Gas Attacks Since August

Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar Assad have used chemical weapons in over 30 attacks since Syria joined the Chemical Weapons Convention last year and agreed to the destruction of its entire chemical arsenal, reports The Times of Israel.  

“From the day that he signed the deal, [Assad] has used chemical weapons over thirty times, and in every case citizens were killed,” a senior Israel Defense Forces officer said, adding that the weapons were “tactically deployed” with mortars and short-range rockets.

According to the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Assad’s regime is currently developing “non-classic” unconventional weapons based on weaker gases such as chlorine.

The officer asserted that Assad still aimed to produce weapons that could be deployed despite Syria’s membership in the CWC.  “Our assessment is that [Assad] will attempt to retain a small stockpile, but he is constrained by the convention,” the officer said.

“That is why he is developing chemicals that, as I said before, are ‘non-classic’ — chlorine, for example, which can be found all over Israel or in any other country.”

Chlorine and many other industrial  compounds are not among the chemicals covered by Syria’s agreement to give up its arsenal.

Last week, the head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Ahmet Uzumcu, announced a mission to “establish facts surrounding allegations of use of chlorine in Syria.”

The new probe comes after France and the United States alleged that Assad’s forces may have made tactical use of industrial chemicals on a rebel-held village in central Hama province last month.

“We have indications of the use of a toxic industrial chemical, probably chlorine, in Syria this month, in the opposition-dominated village of Kafr Zita,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said on April 21.

Activists have also reported other chlorine gas attacks, most recently in Idlib province, in the northwest, two weeks ago.

Syria, though behind schedule, has surrendered over 90% of its declared chemical weapons under the terms of the US- and Russia-brokered deal, which headed off threatened US military action last year.  But between the possibility of undeclared stockpiles and stockpiles of chemicals which fall outside their agreement to surrender weapons, Syria still remains a credible threat to attack with chemical weapons.

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