Chemical weaponsFirst use of a chemical weapon in Syria appears confirmed

Published 19 March 2013

Israeli military intelligence sources said, with “high degree of confidence,” that a single chemical weapon – either a SCUD chemical warhead or, more likely, an artillery shell – was fired on the Khan al-Assal neighborhood in Aleppo earlier today, killing twenty-six people, including eleven government soldiers. Scores of injured people were taken to area hospitals. The Syrian government and the anti-government rebels accuse each other for firing the chemical weapon.

Israeli military intelligence sources said, with “high degree of confidence,” that a single chemical weapon – either a SCUD chemical warhead or, more likely, an artillery shell – was fired on the Khan al-Assal neighborhood in Aleppo earlier today, killing twenty-six people, including eleven government soldiers.

Scores of injured people were taken to area hospitals.

In a speech last week, Maj. Gen Aviv Kochavi, the head of Israel’s military intelligence, said the President Assad was preparing his chemical arsenal for operational use, but that the order to use them had not yet been given (see: “Syrie, Iran, Palestine: les scénarios de l’armée israélienne,” Slate.fr, 15 March 2013).

Kochavi also noted that the Assad regime, in fighting the rebel forces, has steadily escalated its use of advanced weapon systems against civilians. The Syrian military has used SCUD and M-600 missiles on populated areas of the country. Kochavi said that so far, Syrian government forces have launched seventy missiles on civilian areas.

The anti-government rebels charged the Assad regime for the first confirmed use a chemical weapon in the two-year old civil war, saying the firing came hours after a coalition of anti-regime groups, meeting in Istanbul, elected Ghassan Hitto, a Syrian-American, to be the prime minister of a rebel-supported interim Syrian government.

The Assad regime and the Russian Foreign Ministry both accused the rebels for firing the chemical shell.

The official Syrian news agency, SANA, said: “Terrorists fired a rocket containing chemical substances in the Khan al-Assal area of rural Aleppo and initial reports indicate that around 15 people were killed, most of them civilians.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying:

A case of the use of chemical weapons by the armed opposition was recorded early in the morning of March 19 in Aleppo province. We are very seriously concerned by the fact that weapons of mass destruction are falling into the hands of the rebels, which further worsens the situation in Syria and elevates the confrontation in the country to a new level.”

The United States has been cautious in its reaction to the news.

White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters that “We are looking carefully at allegations of … chemical weapons use, we are evaluating them. We have no evidence to substantiate the charge that the opposition has used chemical weapons. We are deeply skeptical of a regime that has lost all credibility and we would also warn the regime against making these kinds of charges as any kind of pretext or cover for its use of chemical weapons.”

Pentagon spokesman George Little said: “I have no information at this time to corroborate any claims that chemical weapons have been used in Syria. The use of chemical weapons in Syria would be deplorable.”

The United States has stressed all along that the it would take action if Assad used chemical weapons. Back in December, President Barack Obama said: “Today I want to make it absolutely clear to Assad and those under his command: The world is watching. The use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable. If you make the tragic mistake of using these weapons, there will be consequences, and you will be held accountable.”

Then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said: “This is a red line for the United States. I am not going to telegraph in any specifics what we would do in the event of credible evidence that the Assad regime has resorted to using chemical weapons against their own people. But suffice it to say, we are certainly planning to take action if that eventuality were to occur.”

The Guardian reported the other day that President Obama, who begins an official visit to Israel tomorrow, will discuss with the Israeli leadership the operational aspects of destroying Syria’s chemical arsenals and missile fleet. The Guardian’s reporter notes that while the United States is likely to resist an Israeli push for an early military attack on Iran’s nuclear weapons infrastructure, and while Israel is likely to resist an American pressure to be more conciliatory toward the Palestinians, both the United States and Israel agree on the urgent need to deal with Syria’s large chemical weapons arsenal – the world’s largest – to make sure the regime or the rebels do not use it, and that chemical weapons are not transferred to Assad’s, and Iran’s, ally Hezbollah.