Gas attacks linked to al-Assad

23 April 2014 - 09:01 By Reuters
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Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. File photo
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. File photo
Image: AFP

The alleged chlorine gas attacks that took place in Syria earlier this month could expose a major loophole in the deal the Syrian government struck with the US and Russia.

President Bashar al-Assad agreed to dispose of his chemical weapons - an arsenal which Damascus had never previously formally acknowledged - after hundreds of people were killed in a sarin gas attack on the outskirts of the capital last August.

Syria has vowed to hand over or destroy its entire arsenal by the end of this week, but still has roughly 20% of the chemicals it declared to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. In addition, chlorine gas was never included on the list submitted to the organisation.

It is feared that al-Assad's forces have been dropping chlorine gas bombs in several areas of the country.

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