Chemical weapons attacks in Syria may normalise war crimes, experts warn

According to right groups and doctors, there have been dozens of attacks with chlorine gas since Syria officially agreed to give up its weapons stockpile following a 2013 sarin gas assault on a Damascus suburb.

After the alleged chemical attack on the Aleppo district of Zubdiya this week, UN envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura said there was a lot of evidence that it took place, and it would constitute a war crime if chlorine gas was used. “If it did take place, it is a war crime and as such it would require everyone … to address it immediately,” he said. He added, however, that it was not his remit to verify the attack.

Last week, doctors in the neighbouring province of Idlib said they had treated more than two dozen patients following a suspected chlorine attack on the town of Saraqeb.

The challenge of verifying the use of chemical weapons in a war zone, particularly chlorine has hampered efforts to track their use. However, the UN’s chemical weapons watchdog says it is confident that chlorine gas has been used as a weapon. According to the Guardian, it did not place blame on any individual or organisation, but said the bombs were probably dropped by helicopters used by forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad.

The Syrian government denies using chemical weapons.

Experts have expressed concern that the use of chemical weapons is no longer as shocking as it was a few years ago.

“There is certainly a huge risk of normalising [the use of chemical weapons],” a British chemical weapons expert Richard Guthrie said. “In recent decades, chemical weapons have slowly been de-legitimised as a currency of power. The continued reports of use of these abhorrent weapons are deeply concerning. This latest allegation of use is another contribution to the slow and steady diminishing of the taboo.”