OPCW probes couldn’t prove chemical use in 2 Syria attacks

The global chemical weapons watchdog said Friday that two investigations into alleged attacks in Syria in 2016 and 2018 couldn’t establish that chemicals were used as weapons in either case. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons issued two reports by its Fact-Finding Mission into attacks in Saraqib in the Idlib region on Aug. 1, 2016, and in Aleppo on Nov. 24, 2018.

The report on the Saraqib attack said that open source reports suggested around 30 people, mainly women and children experienced breathing difficulties. The reports also “indicated the presence of a substance with an odor similar to that of chlorine,” the OPCW report said. Opposition groups blamed the attack on Syrian government forces, an allegation Syria rejected, the OPCW report said. The Fact-Finding Mission wasn’t able to visit the site of the alleged incident or the hospital where injured victims were treated. It had to rely on data including interviews, hospital records and videos and photographs.