Syria chemical attack 2018 – what happened in Douma, what chemicals were used and have there been other gas attacks?
FORCES from the UK, US and France carried out air strikes on Syria in retaliation for chemical attacks on civilians in the besieged town of Douma.
Harrowing footage showed kids foaming at the mouth after a deadly cocktail of chlorine and apparent sarin gas was dropped on the rebel-held town on April 7, 2018. Here’s what you need to know…
What happened during the strikes?
UK, US and French coalition forces carried out revenge strikes over Syria on Friday, April 13.
The attacks came after Prime Minister Theresa May said it was “right and legal” to order cruise missile strikes following the chemical attack on civilians.
She added that the aim of the overnight attack was to deter Syrian authorities from further use of chemical weapons and to send a message to the wider world that it was unacceptable to use such weapons.
British and French military forces had joined the US campaign in response to the “evil and despicable crimes of a monster”, according to Donald Trump.
The three nations launched more than 100 airstrikes in a “one-time shot”, more than double the firepower of the US airstrike on a Syrian base last year.
Four Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s took off from RAF Akotiri and launched Storm Shadow missiles at a military facility – a former missile base – fifteen miles west of Homs, where it is believed chemical weapons were stored.
Alongside them were US cruise missile-armed B-1B Bombers along with F15 and F16s.
French Rafale fighter jets were also involved and 12 missiles shot.
The US said at least one guided missile warship contributed to the strikes using Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Syrian State Television reported that the regime’s air defence downed 13 missiles and Russia claims at least 70 were intercepted.
What happened in Douma and is Assad to blame?
Aid workers reported dozens of people were killed by poison gas – many of them young children – following the attack on the rebel-held town.
Official sources said at least 70 people had died in the atrocity late on Saturday, April 7, 2018, in the besieged town of Douma.
Patients showed signs of “respiratory distress, central cyanosis, excessive oral foaming, corneal burns, and the emission of chlorine-like odour”, they said.
The statement added civil defence volunteers found 42 casualties dead in their homes “with similar clinical symptoms of excessive oral foaming, cyanosis, and corneal burns”.
Harrowing footage showed victims with yellowed skin crumpled on the ground and foaming at the mouth.
And on April 12, it was revealed that victims of the attack had tested positive for chemicals including chlorine and a nerve agent substance.
US officials who obtained blood and urine samples from victims were said to be “confident” in the intelligence, but not 100 percent sure, MSNBC reported.
America and its allies have reportedly compiled a dossier of intelligence – including images – which indicate that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime was behind the Douma atrocity.
An emergency two-hour War Cabinet meeting on the evening of April 12 backed the UK joining US strikes against Assad following in response to the attack.
The PM’s top Ministers agreed it was “vital that the use of chemical weapons did not go unchallenged” in the emergency Downing Street summit.
When are weapons inspectors due at the bomb site?
Experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) began their probe on April 14 but their work has been heavily disrupted.
They will be working in territory which Russia recently claimed had been completely retaken from Syrian rebels.
On Friday April, 13, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov seemed to prejudge the OPCW investigation before the inspectors even reached the area in question.
He said he was confident the inspectors would find no evidence at all of a chemical attack.
Lavrov called the allegations that one had taken place in Douma a fabrication by Western intelligence agencies.
On April 18, 2018, it was reported that the inspectors had been shot at in the region further delaying the investigation.
An ongoing propaganda campaign by the Russian and Syrian governments has also been carried out.
Both Russia and Syria continue to claim footage of the chemical attack was faked and have repeatedly criticised the US, UK and France.
Have there been other gas attacks in Syria?
There have been several reports of chemical attacks in recent years. Here are some of the notable cases:
- Dec 2012 – Seven people killed and dozens injured in Homs by a “poisonous gas” allegedly used by the Syrian regime
- Aug 2013 – More than 1,400 killed near Damascus in chemical weapons strikes after Syrian troops launch an offensive in the area
- Sep 2014 – Officials say chlorine was used as a weapon “systematically and repeatedly” on villages in north west Syria
- Aug 2015 – Syrian rebels report a chemical weapons attack in a stronghold in northern Aleppo, affecting dozens of people
- Aug and Sep 2016 – Hospital officials and activists in Aleppo say chlorine gas is used in attacks
- Apr 2017 – Warplanes strike the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun with a chemical agent, killing at least 83 people
What happened during the attack on Khan Sheikhoun?
More than 85 people, many of them children, died an excruciating death after being gassed by a nerve agent in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun.
Bombs rained down at about 6.30am local time on April 4 while many people were sleeping.
By the time the White Helmet rescuers arrived they found people having fits and frothing at the mouth.
The World Health Organisation said the symptoms were consistent with exposure to a nerve agent.
It is believed that the gas used in Syria was called VX – which stands for “venomous agent X”, banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993.
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