The Assad Regime Continues Chemical Attacks on Civilians

By Ena Cefo

The Syrian regime has once again been accused of using chemical weapons on civilians—using chlorine gas during a March 16^th attack on the town of Sarmin and between March 16th and 31st on the town of Idlib. The regime’s continued use of chemical weapons is a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Syria ratified in 2013, as well as the UN Security Council’s Resolution 2209, which “reiterate[d] that no party in Syria should use, develop, produce, acquire, stockpile, retain, or transfer chemical weapons.” Resolution 2209 warns that future non-compliance with the Security Council’s prior resolution, Resolution 2118, that prohibited the use of chemical weapons in Syria will lead to the “impos[ition of] measures under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.” The United States and other members of the Security Council supported a continuing investigation into the recent allegations of chemical weapon use by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).