SyriaFrance says Syrian regime forces used chemical weapons in recent attacks
French president François Hollande said on Sunday that France had “information” of toxic gases being used by the Bashar a-Assad regime against opposition targets in Syria. The French claim follows accusations by the exiled Syrian opposition and rebel groups in the west and south of the country that gas has been used nine times in the past two months, killing more than ten people and affecting hundreds more.
Victims of Syrian gas attack being readied for burial // Source: irib.ir
French president François Hollande said on Sunday that France had “information” of toxic gases being used by the Bashar a-Assad regime against opposition targets in Syria.
The French claim follows accusations by the exiled Syrian opposition and rebel groups in the west and south of the country that gas has been used nine times in the past two months, killing more than ten people and affecting hundreds more. Israeli intelligence sources said last week that they have information of regime forces using non-lethal gas on 27 march against several rebel positions on the outskirts of Damascus. The gas used in that attack, according to Israel, disables people who come into contact with it for a few hours, but does not kill them.
The Guardian reports that Hollande was careful to say that although France had information about the use of gas by the Syrian regime, such accusations had not been proved.
Hollande, referring to a late August 2013 sarin gas attack in Damascus which killed more than a 1,000 people in rebel-held neighborhoods, told Europe Radio 1 that whatever had taken place was “much less significant than those in Damascus … but very deadly.”
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which was tasked with removing Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal, later found that samples taken from where the rockets landed in the August 2013 attack matched those of the regime’s supply of sarin.
The Guardian notes that Syria has acknowledged that casualties in at least two recent attacks showed symptoms of being gassed, but as was the case in the mass August 2013 chemical strike, it blamed the al-Qaeda-affiliated rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra.
British and U.S. officials say they believe a diluted form of sarin, or industrial strength pesticides and chemicals such as chlorine, were likely used in the recent attacks. Resident in areas allegedly struck by chemical munitions reported symptoms of nausea and respiratory distress in the hours afterwards. Recorded videos emerged of two instances in which a large bomb was dropped from a helicopter, exploding as it hit the ground and emitting a large grey cloud. Such a cloud is consistent with chemical munitions, not with ordinary explosives.
Asked whether he could add anything, Hollande said: “What I do know is what we have seen from this regime is the horrific methods it is capable of using and the rejection of any political transition.”
