Chlorine gas but no nerve agent in Douma attack says chemical watchdog
Initial findings by the OPCW into a suspected chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma indicate that chlorine may have been used but that there were no indications that a nerve agent was used in the April 7 attack.
This image released Sunday, April 8, 2018 by the Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets, shows a child receiving oxygen through respirators following an alleged poison gas attack in the rebel-held town of Douma, near Damascus, Syria. Syrian rescuers and medics said the attack on Douma killed at least 40 people. (Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets via AP)
The global chemical weapons watchdog said on Friday in an interim report that "various chlorinated organic chemicals" were found at the site in Syria where a chemical attack is suspected of being carried out in April.
A fact-finding mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) warned that it was too early to come to conclusions about the suspected attack on the town of Douma, saying that "work by the team to establish the significance of these results is ongoing."
At the same time, the investigators reported based on initial results that "no organophosphorous nerve agents or their degradation products" were detected in samples taken from people allegedly exposed or in the environment.
The OPCW is investigating the suspected April 7 chemical attack on Douma, a town near the Syrian capital, Damascus. The United States, Britain and France blamed Syrian government forces and launched punitive air strikes. Syria denied responsibility. The chemical weapons organisation, based in the Netherlands, does not designate blame for chemical attacks.
Two industrial gas cylinders
The team said in its report that it found two industrial gas cylinders at different locations in Douma – one on a top-floor patio and the other on a bed in a top-floor apartment. It said it is working to establish how they got there and whether they are linked to the alleged attack.
The team said it "needs to continue its work to draw final conclusions regarding the alleged incident and, to this end, the investigation is ongoing."
Russia and Syria sought to disprove that Douma was hit by a poison gas attack, and in April brought a group of Syrians to the global chemical weapons watchdog's headquarters in The Hague to denounce the reports of an illegal attack as fake.
Attack was staged say Russia and Syria
The insistence by Russia and Syria that a chemical weapons attack was staged runs counter to accounts from witnesses and survivors interviewed by The Associated Press, some of them in Douma, who described being overwhelmed by a strong smell of chlorine.
Syrians brought to The Hague by Russia in a move to discredit reports of an April 7, 2018, chemical weapons attack in the Syrian town of Douma appear at a press conference in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, April 26, 2018, after briefing members of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
The survivors interviewed by the AP in Douma after government forces took control of the town blamed a terrorist group of being behind the attack.
Other survivors who left Douma said the chlorine attack occurred amid government air strikes and blamed the government of Syrian President Bashar al Assad.
Copyright © 2024 TRT World.