A new report released on Monday by the Syrian-American Medical Society revealed that more than 600 chemical attacks have killed 1,491 people during the five years of ongoing conflict in Syria.
The report, “The New Normal, Ongoing Chemical Attacks in Syria,” found that 69 chemical weapon attacks were perpetrated in 2015 as part of the conflict. The 69 total chemical attacks mark 2015 as the year with the most chemical attacks in Syria to date.
Non-state actors, including Islamic State terrorists, allegedly used mustard gas and chlorine gas in the attacks, with 64.6 percent of the attacks using chlorine gas and 0.6 percent utilizing mustard gas. The report also found that the types of chemical agents used and the number of actors using chemical weapons has risen.
The most deadly chemical attacks were carried out in Aug. 2013 by the Assad regime in the Eastern Ghouta region. Sarin gas was reportedly used in the attacks, killing as many as 1,000 civilians.
The report warns that the rate of chemical attacks in Syria increased following United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2118, an agreement to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons that was unanimously adopted in September 2013. The increase came through the use of barrel bombs filled with chlorine that were primarily dropped over civilian areas and residential neighborhoods.
The usage of chemical weapons is seen as part of a strategy meant to displace Syrians in opposition-held territories, while the lack of enforcement of international humanitarian and human rights laws, as well as several UNSC resolutions, has caused the continuing use of chemical weapons.
Syria’s chemical preparedness and response efforts are being led by local and Syrian NGOs, according to the report, which have developed locally salient response training and the creation of a documentation protocol.
Other steps going forward that are recommended by the report include recognition by the non-proliferation and humanitarian communities that chemical weapon usage in the region has affected people for the past three years and that work in tandem is the best means of ensuring commitment to the international laws and regulations of non-proliferation. Additionally, the international community must be called upon to account, corroborate and attribute as many chemical attacks as possible as a means of preserving the record and ensuring that victim and community stories are heard.
The report also calls for an increase in the sustained support for chemical preparedness and response measures, with direct funding to both local and Syrian NGOs. Such financial support, though, should only be provided alongside financial support from states to ensure an active effort by all states to end chemical attacks and hold perpetrators accountable for their violations.