The Assad regime has used chemical weapons 174 additional times following 2013’s bloody Western Ghouta chemical massacre in the Damascus countryside, which killed over 1,400 civilians and paved the way for more chemical attacks, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR).
The report further states that the regime has went on to use chemical weapons five more times following the chemical attack that targeted the opposition-held Idlib town of Khan Sheikhoun on April 4.
“Following the attack of Khan Sheikhoun, the regime used chemical weapons again, before 72 hours had even passed, to strike the Damascus suburb of Qaboun using Chlorine gas.
“Russia and China have vetoed seven UN resolutions on behalf of the Assad regime since the breakout of the Syrian civil war. This has allowed the regime to continue with it massacres with impunity. The regime will continue to bomb its own people using chemical weapons,” according to the report.
The majority of the 1,400 civilians who lost their lives following the Ghouta chemical massacre were women and children. Additionally, over 10,000 civilians were injured in the aftermath of Assad’s chemical attack on Aug.21, 2013.
An American intervention was expected following the Ghouta chemical massacre after the U.S. administration had previously warned that using chemical weapons would constitute “crossing a red line.”
However, Russia countered any attempt to intervene by offering to destroy the regime’s entire chemical weapons arsenal.
An agreement was reached on Sept. 15, 2013 and the Organization for the Proliferation of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) began the process of destroying Syria’s chemical weapons, which was concluded on Aug. 19, 2014.
