Syrian regime 'behind 71 chemical weapons attacks'

Human rights campaign says regime has carried out dozens of attacks with chlorine gas since it agreed to give up its chemical weapons stockpile.

MENA

1 min read

Absi Smeisem

07 March, 2015

Chemical attacks have been reported in several areas of Syria [AFP/Getty]

The Syrian regime has carried out 71 chlorine gas attacks since agreeing to give up its chemical weapons stockpile, a human rights campaign has claimed.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights's claim comes as the UN security council voted on Friday on a US-drafted resolution to condemn the use of chlorine as a weapon in Syria.

The director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, Fadel Abdul Ghani, told al-Araby al-Jadeed that the network had been given reliable reports of attacks in Rif Dimashq, Jubar Hama, Idlib, Daraa and Aleppo governorates since the agreement by Syria in 2013 to give up its chemical weapons under the terms of a UN resolution.

The UN resolution was passed after a sarin gas attack on Ghouta and surrounding areas in August 2013, which are believed to have killed hundreds of people.

However, the resolution did not cover chlorine, which is classed as a "dual use" chemical that has industrial applications. There have been several reports of chlorine gas use since 2013.

Ghani called on the UN to "impose a ban on all sorts of weapons used by the Syrian government and prosecute the sides providing it with funds and weapons".

This is an edited translation of the original Arabic.