Report: Syrian forces believed using chlorine bombs

Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — President Bashar Assad was believed to have ordered
chlorine bomb attacks on rebels and civilians in northern Syria.

The U.S. group Human Rights Watch (HRW) collected evidence that suggested that
the Syrian Air Force dropped chlorine gas bombs on three towns in April 2014.

Screenot from a video posted to YouTube on April 11, 2014 shows substantial yellow coloration at base of the cloud over Keferzita, Syria, drifting with main cloud, and color intensity appears to quickly dissipate over next 20 seconds.  /Human Rights Watch
Screenshot from a video posted to YouTube on April 11 shows yellow coloration in a smoke cloud over Kafr Zita, Syria. /Human Rights Watch

HRW said the gas was embedded in so-called barrel bombs, the main method of attack on the rebel-held north over the last year.

“Evidence strongly suggests that Syrian government helicopters dropped barrel bombs embedded with cylinders of chlorine gas on three towns in northern Syria in mid-April 2014,” HRW said.

In a statement on May 13, the New York based group cited testimony from witnesses and medical personnel as well as videos of suspected chlorine gas attacks. HRW reported suspected gas strikes on Kafr Zita, Al Temana and Telsman in the provinces of Hama and Idlib. leven people were said to have been killed in the operations.

“When chlorine gas dissolves in water, including water vapor in the air and water in the mucous membranes in the nose, hypochlorous acid is formed in large amounts,” HRW said. “The report of an odor similar to that of household cleaners is consistent with the presence of chlorine gas.”

France has determined that Assad was probably using chlorine gas in an
effort to destroy the last rebel strongholds in central and northern Syria.
HRW, which could not confirm the attacks, called on the United Nations to
refer the issue to the International Criminal Court.

In 2013, Syria, under threat of an attack by France and the United
States, signed the Chemical Weapons Convention. But the opposition said the
Assad regime was using other chemicals against the rebels and civilians that
do not violate CWC. CWC does ban the use of industrial chemicals as weapons,
and on April 29, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
said an investigation would be launched.

“Syria’s apparent use of chlorine gas as a weapon — not to mention
targeting of civilians — is a plain violation of international law,” HRW
deputy Middle East director Nadim Houry said.

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