In Douma near Damascus, April 16, 2018. HASSAN AMMAR / AP
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on Friday January 27 accused Syria of carrying out a chlorine attack that killed 43 people in Syria in 2018. According to a much-anticipated report by OPCW investigators, “there is reason to believe” that the Syrian Air Force dropped poison gas on the city of Douma near Damascus during the civil war.
“At least one Mi-8/17 helicopter of the Syrian Arab Air Force, which took off from Doumayr air base and was operating under the control of Tiger Forces, dropped two yellow cylinders, which hit two residential buildings in a central area of the city. ”, reads it in the report.
One of the projectiles hit a roof, “shattering and rapidly releasing (…) chlorine in very high concentrations that quickly spread throughout the building, killing 43 identified people and affecting dozens more,” the report says. The second cylinder struck an apartment, was partially ruptured and “slowly began to release chlorine, slightly affecting those who arrived at the scene first”.
“The world now knows the facts”
Rescuers said they treated people with breathing problems, foaming at the mouth and other symptoms. Investigators, who were denied access to the site by Damascus, analyzed samples taken from the scene, interviewed survivors and witnesses and conducted ballistics tests. They checked video and photo evidence, satellite images, computer schemes and called in experts.
“The use of chemical weapons in Douma — and elsewhere — is unacceptable and a violation of international law,” OPCW Director-General Fernando Arias said in a statement. “The world now knows the facts, it is up to the international community to act,” he added.
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The OPCW’s work sparked controversy after two former employees of the Hague-based organization questioned the findings of an earlier investigation, believing they had been altered to provide evidence of a more conclusive chemical attack. However, the OPCW said its investigators “considered a number of possible scenarios” and concluded that “the Syrian Arab Air Force is the perpetrator of this attack.”
The theses proposed by Syria and Russia are rejected
Damascus and its ally Moscow have repeatedly denied this attack on Douma and put forward other hypotheses. They accused rebels and rescuers of staging the attack and bringing bodies to the scene. They also claimed that an Islamist chemical weapons factory had been hit. However, OPCW investigators said there was no evidence to support the claims, which they had “thoroughly reviewed.”
Douma was under rebel control at the time of the incident, which came during a major offensive by Syrian government forces to recapture the town near the capital. A few days later, the United States joined forces with Britain and France to launch airstrikes on Syria.