Syrian Civil War: Chemical Weapons Used With Impunity
Samples being collected from the site of the alleged sarin gas attack in Khan Sheikhoun. Foreign Policy Sameer Arshad Khatlani A t least 70 people died in the fresh chemical attack blamed on Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syrian rebel-held town of Douma on April 7. The attack preceded an agreement the regime reached with the rebels for handing over the town to the Syrian forces on Sunday. It came a year after Assad was accused of using sarin nerve gas to kill over 80 people in rebel-held Khan Sheikhoun on April 4, 2017. The attack has once brought into question Syria’s compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention. Assad had signed the convention following an August 2013 chemical attack and pledged to destroy his stockpiles and production facilities. An Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) analysis of samples taken from three victims and seven survivors in Khan Sheikhoun confirmed the doubts over the compliance. It concluded that the victims and