Assad Has Carried Out ‘Over 100 Chemical Attacks’ Since 2013: Report
MONSTER
Extent of chemical weapons use in Syria exposed by BBC joint investigation.
Reuters / Omar Sanadiki
President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have carried out more than 100 chemical weapons attacks in Syria over the past five years, a BBC investigation has found. The report states there’s enough evidence to be confident of at least 106 chemical attacks ordered by Assad since he signed the international Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and agreed to destroy his chemical-weapons stockpile in September 2013. “The use of chemical weapons has delivered some outcomes for [government forces] that they believe are worth the risk, and [chemical weapons] have subsequently been shown to be worth the risk because they keep using them, repeatedly,” said Julian Tangaere, former head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons mission to Syria. The highest number of reported attacks took place in the northwestern province of Idlib, but there were also many incidents in Hama, Aleppo, and in the Eastern Ghouta region. Assad continues to deny his forces have ever used chemical weapons.
