Human Rights Watch says it has received strong evidence suggesting that Syrian government helicopters dropped barrel bombs embedded with cylinders of chlorine gas on three towns in Northern Syria in mid-April. These attacks used an industrial chemical as a weapon, an act banned by the international treaty prohibiting chemical weapons that Syria joined in October 2013, the New York-based human rights watchdog said in a press release on Tuesday. The Syrian government is the only party to the conflict with helicopters and other aircraft.
On April 29, the director-general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) announced a new mission to establish facts surrounding allegations of use of chlorine in Syria. The group said the Syrian government has agreed to accept this mission and to provide security in areas under its control.
"Syria's apparent use of chlorine gas as a weapon - not to mention targeting of civilians - is a plain violation of international law," said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "This is one more reason for the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court," he added.
Human Rights Watch said it reached the conclusion on the basis of interviews with 10 witnesses, including five medical personnel, video footage of the attacks, and photographs of the remnants. It strongly suggest that government forces dropped barrel bombs containing embedded chlorine gas cylinders in attacks from April 11 to 21 on three towns in northwestern Syria. They are, Keferzita, a town northwest of the city of Hama in the Hama governorate, Al-Teman'a, a small town north of Hama in Idlib governorate and Telmans, a town southeast of the city of Idlib in Idlib governorate.
Witnesses told Human Rights Watch they saw a helicopter dropping a barrel bomb or heard a helicopter immediately prior to an explosion, followed immediately by a peculiar odor. The witnesses consistently described the clinical signs and symptoms of exposure to a choking agent (also known as a lung or pulmonary agent) by victims.
According to doctors who treated the victims and subsequently spoke to Human Rights Watch, these attacks killed at least 11 people and resulted in symptoms consistent with exposure to chlorine in nearly 500 other people.
Videos of barrel bomb remnants found after the attacks on Keferzita on April 11 and 18 and the attack on Telmans on April 21 show yellow cylinders or canisters together with remnants of barrel bombs. The canisters contain markings with the code "CL2" - the symbol for chlorine gas - and "NORINCO," indicating that the cylinders were manufactured in the Chinese state-owned company NORINCO. Yellow is the standard industrial gas color code for chlorine.
Syria has declared some 1,300 metric tons of chemical substances and precursors, of which more than 90 percent had been removed from Syria for destruction, according to the OPCW. The US Department of State stated that chlorine was not among the priority one or two chemicals that Syria declared to the chemical weapon organization in its chemical weapons stockpile.
Syria's government has accused terrorists of possessing chlorine gas and has blamed them for the attacks on Keferzita, while media reports suggest that the attacks were conducted from helicopters, which only the government owns.
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