The coverage included the report of side effects such as nausea, relaxed muscles, blurred vision, and breathing difficulties. government monitors Syria’s chemical weapons activities “very closely.”ĭecember 23, 2012: The first allegation of chemical weapons use was reported. Seven people were allegedly killed in Homs by a “poisonous gas” used by the Assad regime. Obama said his calculations on a military response would change significantly if the United States sees “a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized.”Īugust 23, 2012: An official in the State Department confirmed that “Syria has a stockpile composed of nerve agents and mustard gas” and that the U.S. July 23, 2012: Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi confirmed for the first time that Syria has chemical weapons, stating that these weapons would never be used against the Syrian people, but only against “external aggression.”Īugust 20, 2012: President Barack Obama articulated his red-line regarding the use of chemical weapons in Syria. An Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-UN joint investigative team found Syria and the Islamic State responsible for numerous chemical weapons attacks in Syria over the past several years.īelow is a timeline of significant events related to Syria’s chemical weapons program from July 2012 to the present. Syria has the capability to deliver these agents using aerial bombs, ballistic missiles, and artillery rockets. For a number of years preceding this announcement, the U.S. intelligence community assessed that Syria has a stockpile of chemical weapons, including blister agents such as mustard gas, and nerve agents such as sarin and VX. In July 2012, Syria publicly acknowledged that it possesses chemical weapons. Contact: Daryl Kimball, Executive Director, 20 x107 Kelsey Davenport, Director for Nonproliferation Policy, 20 x102.

Mostrecent use of mustard gas