Inspectors have determined “with a high degree of confidence” that chlorine gas was used in attacks this year in northern Syria.
A fact-finding mission from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons found “compelling confirmation” that a toxic chemical was used “systematically and repeatedly,” the group said in a statement Wednesday. Information gathered led the mission “to conclude with a high degree of confidence that chlorine, either pure or in mixture, is the toxic chemical in question.”
The mission’s task does not include determining who was responsible for using chemical weapons. It was investigating claims that the Syrian regime used chlorine gas in the villages of Talmanes, Al Tamanah and Kafr Zita, the OPCW said.
In May, several inspectors taking part in the mission were kidnapped and then released the same day.
The last of Syria’s declared chemical weapons stockpiles were removed from the country in June, the OPCW said. The most dangerous ones have since been destroyed at sea, the United States said.
The OPCW implements the Chemical Weapons Convention, which entered into force in 1997. It aims to ban chemical weapons worldwide.