Tel Aviv: Europe is awakening to the danger of the stockpile of chemical weapons in Syria that may be used by terror organisations.
While Israel has again and again pointed to that danger, the US and Europe have not taken action. The first sign that Europe is seriously worried came in the form of a statement from Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, UK Minister for the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and United Nations.
He said that ten years ago the Syrian regime performed the horrific chemical weapons attack on Ghouta, Damascus, which killed 1,400 innocent civilians – including hundreds of women and children.
“Under international pressure following that attack, Syria acceded to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and committed to stop its chemical weapons programme and destroy all its stockpiles. This is a commitment all states enter into on joining the CWC,” he said.
Lord Ahmad added that in the 10 years that have passed, the Syrian regime has ignored these obligations. It has carried out at least nine further chemical weapons attacks using sarin or chlorine.
The Israeli intelligence organisations believe that Syria has kept a stockpile of chemical weapons even after claiming that it destroyed all sorts of poisonous gases. Israeli sources say that the US is aware of this Syrian violation of UN resolution but has decided not to act.
According to the Begin – Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies in Israel, there have been concerns among international observers that Syria has restarted its chemical program. “The regime led by Syrian President Bashar Assad has repeatedly used chemical weapons against its own Sunni citizens to conduct mass slaughter throughout the civil war,” the report says.
The US has been briefed by Israel about the chemical weapons in Syria.
According to a report prepared by the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), Bashar al-Assad’s regime has used chemical weapons, mainly chlorine, dozens of times since the American missile strike on the al-Shuayrat airbase in Syria in April 2017. However, the chemical weapons attack on civilians in Duma (apparently chlorine mixed with nerve gas) by the regime on April 7, 2018 was the attack that drove US President Donald Trump to launch a military operation on April 14, in conjunction with Britain.
Israeli intelligence time after time says that Syria keeps a stockpile of different chemical weapons.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
