Gas Attack in Syria

On 7 April 2018, a reported chemical attack was carried out in the Syrian city of Douma, with 70 people allegedly killed.

Background

The reports about chemical weapons attack in Douma followed two other smaller chlorine gas attacks in Douma on March 7 and 11. Human Rights Watch organization has documented 85 chemical weapons attacks in Syria since 2013.

A year earlier, the United States fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles on the Shayrat Air Base in response to the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack, which the Trump administration attributed to the Syrian government. The U.S. government repeatedly warned against the use of chemical weapons in Syria following the April 2017 missile strike. Secretary of Defense James Mattis stated in February 2018 that he believed the Syrian government had not complied with the Russian-brokered deal to destroy its chemical weapons arsenal, warning that the Assad government would be "ill-advised to go back to violating" the prohibition of chemical weapons use. The U.S. also accused the Syrian government of manufacturing "new kinds of weapons" that are capable of delivering chemical agents.

In early 2018, the main rebel faction in the area was Jaysh al-Islam, based in Douma.

There have been reported incidents of chemical weapons use in Douma in January 2018; however, Russia vetoed a potential United Nations mission to investigate, and US Defense Secretary James Mattis said they could not corroborate the reports. In a March 2018 statement, Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the Russian military's General Staff, accused Eastern Ghouta rebels of attempting to fabricate an incident involving chemical weapons to be used by the U.S. as a pretext to target the Assad government, without specifying the timing of the incident. Russia has previously tried blocking the United Nations from investigating the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack.

Investigations by the United Nations and the OPCW have concluded that the Syrian government has previously used chemical weapons in the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack.

The Attack

Several medical, monitoring and activist groups, including the White Helmets, reported that the Syrian Army helicopters dropped barrel bombs on the town of Douma. The bombs, suspected to be filled with chemical munitions such as chlorine gas and sarin, caused severe convulsions in some residents and suffocated others. The United States, the European Union, Turkey, and several middle eastern nations condemned the Syrian government for the alleged attack. The claims were disputed by the Syrian government and its allies, particularly Russia, who instead claimed that no chemical weapons were used in the city.

On-site medics stated the cause of those deaths was exposure to chlorine and sarin gas.

70 deaths were confirmed by the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations which supervises medical services in the region. According to witnesses on the ground, most patients seeking treatment in the aftermath of the attack were women and children. A video from the scene of the attack showed lifeless men, women and children with foam at their mouths. According to the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), over 500 people at Douma "were brought to local medical centers with symptoms indicative of exposure to a chemical agent". SAMS also said that a chlorine bomb struck a Douma hospital, killing 6 people there, and that another attack with "mixed agents" hit a building nearby. According to the Syrian opposition groups, witnesses reported strong smell of chorine during the attack and said that effects appeared stronger than in previous attacks of this kind. Syrian opposition activists also posted videos of yellow compressed gas cylinders they said were used during the attack. Based on the symptoms and the speed with which the victims were affected, medical workers and experts suggested that either a combination of chlorine with another gas, or a nerve agent of some kind was used.

Aftermath

The day after the chemical attack, the rebels controlling Douma agreed to a deal with the government to surrender the area.

In the early hours of 9 April 2018, an airstrike was conducted against Tiyas Military Airbase, reportedly killing several people. The United States denied launching the airstrike, and an Israeli spokeswoman declined to comment. Russia said Israel was responsible, and that two Israeli F-15I jets attacked the airfield from Lebanese airspace, firing 8 missiles of which 5 were intercepted. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, at least 14 people were killed and more were wounded. Among the dead were seven Iranian soldiers.

Russia and Iran have said that the Douma attack was a false flag attack. On 10 April Russia vetoed a UN resolution that would have created "a new investigative mechanism to look into chemical weapons attacks in Syria and determine who is responsible." Instead, Syria and Russia have invited the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to investigate if chemical weapons were used.

On 10 April U.S. President Donald Trump, the U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, and French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement following joint telephone calls that they had "agreed that the international community needed to respond to uphold the worldwide prohibition on the use of chemical weapons".

On 11 April Trump warned Russia in a tweet to "get ready" for "missiles" adding that "You shouldn't be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!" Vasily Nebenzia, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, said that the United States would "bear responsibility" for any "illegal military adventure" they conducted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Douma_chemical_attack