Syria civil war: 'Toxic chemical' containing chlorine used in Douma attack, inspectors conclude

Britain, France and US launched punitive airstrikes after attack

A “toxic chemical” containing chlorine was used in an attack on the Syrian town of Douma last year, the global chemical weapons watchdog has said.

The attack on the town in April last year, which was held by rebels but besieged by pro-government forces at the time, killed dozens of civilians and prompted airstrikes against the Syrian regime by Britain, France and the US.

Footage of young children foaming at the mouth provoked horrified reactions around the world.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said its investigators had found “reasonable grounds” to believe chlorine was used in the attack.

Douma was the final target of Bashar al-Assad‘s campaign to seize back control of the eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus from rebels after seven years of revolt. Militants gave up the town days after the attack.

In a statement, the OPCW said the mission visited Douma, analysed samples taken from the scene and from people affected, interviewed witnesses and studied toxicological and ballistics analyses.

The data, it said, provided “reasonable grounds that the use of a toxic chemical as a weapon” took place.

“This toxic chemical contained reactive chlorine. The toxic chemical was likely molecular chlorine.”

Evidence of damage caused by two pressurised gas cylinders detailed by the OPCW – one crashing through a ceiling and the other found on a roof terrace – appeared to be consistent with the items having been dropped from above.

Weaponising chlorine is prohibited under the Chemical Weapons Convention, ratified by Syria in 2013, and is prohibited under customary international humanitarian law.

The investigators’ mandate does not include laying blame for the attack.

Britain, France and the US blamed Syrian government forces for the attack and launched punitive airstrikes. Syria denied responsibility.

Russia, a staunch ally of Mr Assad, also rejected claims Syria was responsible for the attack and even took what it called witnesses to The Hague to describe their experiences.

Responding to the publication of the report on Friday, Russia’s embassy in the Netherlands, where the OPCW is based, claims the watchdog had reached its conclusions “in spite of all the evidence”.

Lou Charbonneau of the New York-based Human Rights Watch said the latest OPCW report “adds one more case to the scores of illegal chemical weapons attacks confirmed since 2013”.

She added: “Those responsible for the use of these banned weapons should be unmasked and held to account.”

The OPCW has documented systematic use of the banned nerve agent sarin and chlorine in Syria’s civil war, now nearing its eighth year.

From 2015 to 2017 a joint UN-OPCW team had been appointed to assign blame for chemical attacks in Syria.

It found Syrian government troops had used the nerve agent sarin and chorine barrel bombs on several occasions, while Isis militants were found to have used sulphur mustard.

In June, the OPCW’s member states granted the organisation new powers to assign blame for chemical weapons attacks, but that was not the mandate of the team that carried out the Douma inquiry.

The OPCW is also looking into an alleged gas attack last November in Aleppo that reportedly made up to 100 people ill. The Syrian government and its ally, Russia, blamed the attack on insurgents.