214 Syria regime chemical attacks against opposition since 2011, says SNHR

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said yesterday that Syrian regime forces have carried out 214 chemical attacks against the opposition since 2011 which killed at least 1,421 people, including 187 children and 244 women without being held accountable.

The network issued the report to mark the first anniversary of the regime’s notorious chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun town on 4 April 2017 which left more than 100 people dead and caused hundreds of injuries.

According to the SNHR Syrian regime forces carried out 33 attacks before UN Security Council resolution 2118 was issued in 2013, and 181 attacks after that resolution.

The report explained that “of the 182 attacks, 112 occurred after resolution 2209 of 2015, 56 attacks after resolution 2235 of the same year and four attacks after the Russian veto on extending the mission of the joint investigation mechanism in November, 2017”.

Read: Explosives killed nearly 1,000 children in Syria in 2017

The report pointed out that 11 of the chemical attacks occurred after the Khan Sheikhoun attack in rural Idlib, north of the country.

The report added that the US-Russia agreement which took place after the notorious Ghouta attack in August 2013 stipulated that the UN Security Council should periodically review the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons.

The report said that all the Security Council resolutions on chemical weapons “also stipulated that if the Syrian regime does not comply with the terms of the US-Russia agreement and the Security Council resolutions, the Security Council shall impose measures against the regime under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations”.

“The joint investigation mechanism that emerged from UN resolution 2235 proves that Syrian regime forces have used chemical weapons at least three times while it was still investigating other incidents before Russia ended its mission using its veto in the UN Security Council” the report said.