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The Syrian regime systematically hides banned warfare agents from international controls. A new report shows who is responsible for implementation and development and names 150 people responsible.
Poison gas against its own people: UN personnel investigate the point of impact of Syrian chemical weapons in Ain Terma, on the outskirts of Damascus.
Photo: Keystone
The name does not sound suspicious: Center for Scientific Studies and Research, better known by the English name Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC). Yet behind this lies the core of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons program.
On Monday, the New York-based Open Society Justice Initiative and the Syrian Archive, founded in 2014 in Berlin by Syrian Hadi al-Khatib, presented the most comprehensive report to date on the structure and administrative staff of the facility and its close connection with the presidential palace to the organization for the ban. chemical weapons (OPCW), as well as a UN commission of inquiry and law enforcement authorities in several countries to hand over. Appoint nearly 150 people in charge of the SSRC.
Hidden agents of war even after joining the convention
This newspaper has the document of almost 90 pages. It documents in detail how the Syrian regime concealed equipment and chemicals for the production of agents of war like sarin from the OPCW even after joining the Chemical Weapons Convention in Fall 2013. These were handed over to the 105th Brigade of the Republican Guard, an elite unit of the army commanded by Brigadier General Talal Makhlouf, who is closely associated with the Assad family.
One of the authors ‘goals is to provide the OPCW with information for future investigations after the regime has not yet complied with inspectors’ requests for clarification. “Our research shows that Syria continues to have a strong chemical weapons program,” says Steve Kostas of the Justice Initiative. The member states of the OPCW would have to hold the Syrian regime accountable for the continuing violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention. States must also intensify their efforts to bring those responsible to justice. In Germany, for example, these procedures have already started.
Law enforcement agencies must question witnesses and obtain evidence so that it can be used in future trials; in case suspects are caught outside Syria or war crimes and crimes against humanity in the courtroom are one day prosecuted in Syria itself.
Russia and Syria deny everything
The Syrian regime continues to deny possessing or using chemical weapons. This position also supports Russia, Assad’s most important ally. In contrast, the OPCW has tested the use of sarin in several cases and blamed the government troops of President Bashar al-Assad for it.
According to the report, the order for the operation comes personally from the president: Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad.
Photo: Keystone
Based on two years of research and interviews with around 50 former SSRC employees and government representatives, the report tracks how the institute’s departments, which are spread over almost 60 locations in Syria, are involved in the production and use of chemical weapons. . Many, at least, are not publicly known and Syria has not declared them to the OPCW.
Coordinated attacks with the presidential palace
In this way, the authors understand how the institute plays a central role in the manufacture of sarin. Department 450, with the main location in Jamraya near Damascus, is responsible for producing the nerve agent and filling it with ammunition. According to the report, the order for the operation comes personally from the president, the command is carried out by General Bassam al-Hassan, adviser to the president and responsible for the security of the SSRC.
Therefore, the influential Air Force Secret Service and the Republican Guard are responsible for transporting the full ammunition and planning operations, and they coordinate the attacks with the presidential palace. The institute is also involved in the construction of makeshift rockets and barrel bombs that were used to fire hundreds of chlorine in rebel areas. The report also contains new information on a sarin and chlorine attack in the city of Ltamenah in March 2017, which the OPCW is currently investigating.
Primitive but deadly weapon: A man shows the remains of a barrel bomb hit in eastern Ghouta in January 2020.
Photo: Mohammed Badra (Keystone)
