Dead showed no wounds or blood. Who was behind this new chemical attack in Syria?
WASHINGTON
A month after the world’s leading anti-chemical weapons
group condemned both the Syrian military and Islamic State for “the use
of chemical weapons and toxic chemicals as weapons” they’ve issued a new
statement of concern involving the on-going conflict, but this time it
involves a bombardment in which Russia appears to have played a central
role.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons, based in The Hague, Netherlands, refers to “allegations
regarding the use of chemical weapons in the area of Uqayribat, in the
Hama Governate in Syria.” It states that the allegations have been made
in media reports, which note that people were found dead, but without
any visible wounds.
“This area is located to the
northwest of Palmyra and in territory understood to be controlled by the
so-called Islamic State,” the statement reads. It goes on to say that
“the use of chemical weapons by anyone under any circumstances is
reprehensible and wholly contrary to the legal norms established by the
international community.”
In
this instance, a BBC News report on a battle near Palmyra says Islamic
State “members recaptured the city on Sunday, hours after Russian air
strikes appeared to have driven them back.”
The Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights reports that the death toll from this
latest attack is now at least 53. According to their witnesses, the
victims “were killed in bombardment by warplanes using rockets carrying
toxic gases.”
While Syria still has jets capable of
firing missiles, it has been widely reported that Russian jets were
providing the air support in this battle.
Previous OPCW
reports have stated that the Syrian Arab Armed Forces chemical attacks
“involve helicopters dropping barrels containing chlorine gas.” In
addition, they have said there is evidence that the Islamic State used
mustard gas during an attack in Aleppo in 2015. The Islamic State is not
believed to have a functional air force.
The observatory
noted that 20 women and children were among the dead, and that the
victims appeared to have died from suffocation, and showed “no trace of
fractures, smash or blood on their bodies or their clothes.”
A
Nov. 11 statement from the OPCW stated that “the Syrian Arab Armed
Forces and the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)
have been involved in the use of chemical weapons and toxic chemicals as
weapons.”
It also stated that the organization’s
executive council “expressed its deepest sympathy for the victims of
chemical weapons attacks and its conviction that ‘every actor involved
in these chemical weapons attacks should be held accountable.’”
