The investigators, to whom Damascus refused access to the site, analyzed samples taken from the premises, interviewed of survivors and witnesses and carried out ballistic tests.
MO12345lemonde with AFP
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPC) accused Syria on Friday, January 27, of having made an attack on the chlorine which killed 43 people in Syria in 2018. According to a highly anticipated report by investigators From the OPCO, “there are reasonable reasons for believing” that the Syrian air force has dropped toxic gas on the city of Douma, near Damascus, during the civil war.
“At least a mid-8/17 helicopter of the Syrian Arab Air Force, departing from the Dumayr air base and operating under the control of the tiger forces, dropped two yellow cylinders, which have touched two residential buildings in a central area of the city “, is it written in the report.
One of the projectiles struck a roof, “broke and quickly released (…) from chlorine, at very high concentrations, which quickly dispersed in the building, killing 43 people identified and in affecting dozens of others, “describes the report. The second cylinder struck an apartment, partially opened and “began to slowly release chlorine, slightly affecting those who arrived the first on the scene”.
“The world now knows the facts “
The rescuers said they had treated people with respiratory problems, scum in the mouth and other symptoms. The investigators, to whom Damascus refused access to the site, analyzed samples taken from the premises, interviewed with survivors and witnesses and carried out ballistic tests. They examined video and photographic evidence, satellite images, computer schemes and solicited of experts.
“The use of chemical weapons in Douma – and elsewhere – is unacceptable and constitutes a violation of international law,” the director general of the OPCO, Fernando Arias in a statement. “The world now knows the facts, it is up to the international community to act,” he added.
The work of the OPCA had aroused controversy after two former employees of the organization, located in The Hague, had questioned the conclusions of a previous investigation, believing that they had been modified with the purpose to make proof of a conclusive chemical attack. But the OIAC said that its investigators had “examined a series of possible scenarios” and concluded that “the Syrian Arab Air Force are the authors of this attack”.
The theses proposed by Syria and the Russia rejected
Damascus and his ally Moscow have repeatedly denied this attack in Douma, offering other hypotheses. They accused the rebels and the rescuers of having staged the attack and of having brought corpses to the scene. They also argued that an Islamist chemical weapons factory had been affected. But the OPCI investigators said that there was no evidence in support of these allegations, that they “meticulously examined”.
Duma was controlled by rebels at the time of the incident, which occurred during a major offensive of Syrian government forces to take over the city, located near the capital. A few days later, the United States had launched air strikes on Syria with the United Kingdom and France.