 "What chemical weapons does Syria have? Why is the world worried after Assad’s ouster?")
The Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria has been ousted in fashion dramatic.
The world watched as Islamist rebels seized Damascus and Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for decades, fled to seek refuge with his long-time ally Moscow.
The developments have recast the balance of power in West Asia and governments across the world are watching with interest.
“Our approach has shifted the balance of power in the Middle East,” US President Joe Biden said.
“For years, the main backers of Assad have been Iran, Hezbollah and Russia. But over the last week, their support collapsed - all three of them - because all three of them are far weaker today than they were when I took office,” Biden said.
However, many are concerned about Syria’s chemical weapons.
But what do we know about them? Why are people worried?
Let’s take a closer look
What do we know?
First, let’s briefly examine chemical weapons.
According to OPCW, a chemical weapon is something used to intentionally cause death or harm.
According to Armscontrol.org, chemical weapons are weapons of mass destruction.
They were first deployed during World War I.
Their usage was later restricted by the 1925 Geneva Protocol.
However, the international community began looking at a comprehensive ban on chemical weapons only as late in 1980.
Talks over the ban, which lasted more than a decade, concluded only in 1993.
It took another four years for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) to actually be put into place.
It is the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) that supervises the liquidation of chemical stockpiles.
Around 193 nations are signatories to the CWC.
This includes Syria which joined the pact in September 2013.
However, Egypt, North Korea, and South Sudan have not joined the CWC.
Israel has signed the treaty, but not ratified it.
Despite the ban, the previous Assad regime is thought to have repeatedly used chemical weapons – particularly sarin gas – against its citizens since the outbreak of the civil war.
Sarin gas is a colourless, odourless gas.
It results in muscle twitches, unconsciousness, paralysis of respiratory organs and finally death via asphyxiation.
As per NDTV, the Syrian government used sarin gas to attack Ghouta in August 2013.
Human Rights Watch says that hundreds were left dead in the attack on the rebel -held stronghold occurred near Damascus.
PBS put the toll far higher –1,400 dead including women and children.
The White House at the time claimed they had “high confidence” that the Assad regime was behind the attack.
At the time, Barack Obama was US president.
He had famously set a ‘red line’ in Syria against the use of chemical weapons – from which he later backed away.
“The president was looking for a way to not have to make good on the threat that he had made,” Colonel Andrew Bacevich (Ret.), author of The Limits of Power, told Frontline. “I think because the president having drawn that red line realised that he had no appetite for direct military engagement in Syria.”
According to Forbes, the UNSC in 2013 essentially struck a deal with Assad to dispose of his chemical weapons.
The country moved most of its stockpile abroad and its destruction was monitored by the OPCW.
This includes around 1,300 tonnes of chemicals and 20 secret facilities.
“In doing so, it basically ended the chemical weapons program as a strategic threat to neighbouring countries and intervening powers,” Aron Lund, a Syria expert and fellow with Century International, told Forbes. “That’s one reason, among others, for why Syria then saw so much international involvement – the regime’s main strategic deterrent was gone.”
Despite this, the regime is thought to have held on to at least some of its stockpile.
The exact numbers remain under wraps.
The Syrian government is also thought to have used a nerve agent in Khan Sheikhoun in April 2017 when Donald Trump was president.
The then Assad regime is thought to have hit the town in Idlib with Sarin gas – leaving at least 90 including 30 children dead.
The OPCW has said that the Assad regime used both sarin and chlorine gas – which is not banned as a chemical weapon due to its widespread civilian use – to leave thousands of people dead or injured in attacks between 2015 and 2018.
In 2018, then US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley accused the Assad regime of carrying out around 50 chemical weapons attacks.
Human Rights Watch in April 2018 claimed that the Assad regime carried out most of the 85 proven chemical weapons attacks in Syria.
Why are people worried?
The United States is worried about Islamist groups getting their hands on Syria’s cache of chemical weapons.
Axios quoted a US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, as telling reporters that Washington is cooperating with several West Asian nations to stop Syria’s chemical weapons “from falling into the wrong hands.”
The official added that Washington has “good fidelity” on their weapons and US intelligence experts believe they have matters in hand.
“We are taking very prudent measures about this … We are doing everything we can to ensure that those materials are not available to anyone and are cared for,” the official said.
“We want to make sure that chlorine or things that are far worse are destroyed or secured. There are several efforts in this regard with partners in the region,” the official added, as per the website.
The US isn’t acting alone.
Israel has over the past two days conducted air strikes against dozens of Syrian military bases, arms depots and facilities thought to be part of its chemical weapons programmes.
“We have a responsibility to make sure strategic weapon systems don’t fall into the wrong hands,” an Israeli official told Axios.
However, the Islamist rebels have claimed they have no interest in Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons.
With inputs from agencies
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