Rights group: Syria regime has used chemical weapons 211 times

The Syrian regime, headed by President Bashar Al-Assad, has used chemical weapons 211 times since the start of the crisis, the Syrian Network for Human Rights said yesterday.

Some 1,421 people have been killed in the attacks, the group added.

Of the chemical strikes committed, 33 were before UN Security Council Resolution 2118 was issued in 2013 and 178 took place after. The resolution provided a framework for the elimination of the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons arsenal.

Some 109 occurred after the 2015 UN adoption of Resolution 2209 which condemns any use of chemicals as a weapon in the Syrian Civil War and threatens to use force if chemical weapons are used again in the conflict.

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According to the report, Russia failed to curb the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons.

According to the report, Russia has used its power of veto five times in favour of the regime, in respect of the chemical weapons file – three times in less than a month to stop the expansion of the mission of the Joint Investigation Mechanism which ended its mandate last November. The regime has committed at least three chemical weapons attacks since then.

On 27 October, the United Nations Joint Investigation Mechanism on Syrian Chemical Weapons concluded that the regime was responsible for killing at least 100 people in Khan Sheikhun, in the countryside of Idlib, with chemical weapons.