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U.N. Report Confirms Rockets Loaded With Sarin in Aug. 21 Attack U.N. Report Confirms Rockets Loaded With Sarin in Aug. 21 Attack
(about 1 hour later)
Rockets armed with the banned chemical nerve agent sarin were used in a mass killing near Damascus on Aug. 21, United Nations chemical weapons inspectors reported Monday in the first official confirmation by nonpartisan scientific experts that such munitions had been deployed in the Syria conflict. Rockets armed with the banned chemical nerve agent sarin were used in a mass killing near Damascus on Aug. 21, United Nations chemical weapons inspectors reported Monday in the first official confirmation by nonpartisan scientific experts, saying such munitions had been deployed “on a relatively large scale” in the Syria conflict.
Although the widely awaited report did not ascribe blame for the attack, it concluded that “chemical weapons have been used in the ongoing conflict between the parties in the Syrian Arab Republic, also against civilians, including children, on a relatively large scale.” Although the widely awaited report did not ascribe blame for the attack, it provided in graphic and clinical detail the evidence of sarin residue in three neighborhoods in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, the precise types of projectiles and trajectories to deliver it and the symptoms of the victims. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the attack the most horrific use of chemical weapons since Saddam Hussein of Iraq gassed the Kurdish village of Halabja a quarter century ago.
“The report makes for chilling reading,” Mr. Ban told a news conference after he delivered the report to the Security Council. “The findings are beyond doubt and beyond the pale. This is a war crime.”
Mr. Ban declined to say which side he blamed.
The United States and its allies quickly seized on the volume of evidence in the 38-page report to draw the conclusion that only Syrian government forces of President Bashar al-Assad had the capability to carry out such a strike, calling it validation of their own long-held assertions. But Russia’s ambassador said there too many unanswered questions to draw such a conclusion.
The report’s release punctuated a tumultuous week spawned by the global outrage over the Aug. 21 attack, in which an American threat of punitive force on the Syrian government was delayed as Russia proposed a diplomatic alternative, Syria agreed to ban chemical weapons and intense diplomacy between the United States and Russia led to a sweeping agreement in which Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal could be destroyed by the middle of 2014.
The United Nations itself, in danger of becoming irrelevant in helping end the 30-month-old Syria conflict, was suddenly thrust back into a central role, with the long-paralyzed Security Council engaged in deliberations over an enforceable measure to hold Syria to its commitment on chemical weapons, even as the war in that country shows no sign of abating.
The report concluded that “chemical weapons have been used in the ongoing conflict between the parties in the Syrian Arab Republic, also against civilians, including children, on a relatively large scale.”
The inspectors, who visited the Damascus suburbs that suffered the attack and left the country with large amounts of evidence on Aug. 31, said that “In particular, the environmental, chemical and medical samples we have collected provide clear and convincing evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent sarin were used.”The inspectors, who visited the Damascus suburbs that suffered the attack and left the country with large amounts of evidence on Aug. 31, said that “In particular, the environmental, chemical and medical samples we have collected provide clear and convincing evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent sarin were used.”
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who ordered the report, received it on Sunday and presented it to the 15-member Security Council on Monday in a closed-door session. “The findings are beyond doubt and beyond the pale,” Mr. Ban told reporters at the United Nations afterward. “This is a war crime.” Mr. Ban told reporters “it is for others to decide whether to pursue this matter further to determine a response” and that the chemical weapons inspectors intended to return to Syria to investigate other suspected chemical weapons attacks, including some in which Mr. Assad’s side claims insurgents had used them.
He made no comment about who was to blame for the attack, but immediately after he spoke, the British and American ambassadors to the United Nations said the evidence cited in the report — the type of arms, the rocket trajectories, the quality of the nerve agent — made clear that the government of President Bashar al-Assad had carried out the attack. Speaking to reporters later, the American ambassador, Samantha Power, and British ambassador, Sir Mark Lyall-Grant, were emphatic in their assertions that the report implicated Mr. Assad, whose government has amassed one of the largest stockpiles of chemical munitions over the past two decades, and only last week admitted it possessed them.
“This was no cottage-industry use of chemical weapons,” said Sir Mark Lyall, the British ambassador. The evidence "confirms, in our view, that there was no remaining doubt that it was the regime" that used the chemical weapons. “This was no cottage-industry use of chemical weapons,” said Sir Mark said. The evidence “confirms, in our view, that there was no remaining doubt that it was the regime” that used the chemical weapons.
The American ambassador, Samantha Power, concurred, saying: “The technical details of the U.N. report make clear that only the regime could have carried out this large scale chemical of weapons attack.” Ambassador Power concurred, saying: “The technical details of the U.N. report make clear that only the regime could have carried out this large scale of chemical weapons attack.”
The 38-page report carried the conclusions of a team of inspectors headed by Ake Sellstrom, a Swedish chemical weapons expert, under the auspices of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, a Hague-based institution that monitors compliance with a 1997 treaty outlawing such munitions. The report carried the conclusions of a team of inspectors headed by Ake Sellstrom, a Swedish chemical weapons expert, under the auspices of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, a Hague-based institution that monitors compliance with a 1997 treaty outlawing such munitions.
The report said the facts supporting its conclusion included “impacted and exploded surface-to-surface rockets, capable to carry a chemical payload,” which “were found to contain sarin.” The facts also included sarin-contaminated areas at the sites, more than 50 interviews given by survivors and health care workers, clear signs of exposure in patients and survivors, and blood and urine samples by those patients and survivors that were “found positive for sarin and sarin signatures.”The report said the facts supporting its conclusion included “impacted and exploded surface-to-surface rockets, capable to carry a chemical payload,” which “were found to contain sarin.” The facts also included sarin-contaminated areas at the sites, more than 50 interviews given by survivors and health care workers, clear signs of exposure in patients and survivors, and blood and urine samples by those patients and survivors that were “found positive for sarin and sarin signatures.”
The consistency of the symptoms included “shortness of breath, eye irritation, excessive salivation, convulsions, confusion/disorientation and miosis,” or constriction of the pupils. First responders also became ill, the report said, “with one describing the onset of blurred vision, generalized weakness, shaking, a sensation of impending doom, followed by fainting.”The consistency of the symptoms included “shortness of breath, eye irritation, excessive salivation, convulsions, confusion/disorientation and miosis,” or constriction of the pupils. First responders also became ill, the report said, “with one describing the onset of blurred vision, generalized weakness, shaking, a sensation of impending doom, followed by fainting.”
The report also found that the weather conditions on the morning of Aug. 21 may have increased the number of victims because the temperatures had been falling. The use of chemical munitions in such conditions, the report said, “maximizes their potential impact as the heavy gas can stay close to the ground and penetrate into lower levels of buildings and constructions where many people were seeking shelter.”The report also found that the weather conditions on the morning of Aug. 21 may have increased the number of victims because the temperatures had been falling. The use of chemical munitions in such conditions, the report said, “maximizes their potential impact as the heavy gas can stay close to the ground and penetrate into lower levels of buildings and constructions where many people were seeking shelter.”
Although the report confirmed what the United States, its allies and Human Rights Watch had already concluded about the nature of the attack, it was nonetheless regarded as important as the first purely scientific and politically neutral accounting of the facts about the weapons that were used.Although the report confirmed what the United States, its allies and Human Rights Watch had already concluded about the nature of the attack, it was nonetheless regarded as important as the first purely scientific and politically neutral accounting of the facts about the weapons that were used.
The report did not specify the number of people killed in the attack. The United States, which has accused President Bashar al-Assad’s forces of responsibility, said more than 1,400 people were killed, including more than 400 children. That would be the worst single death toll in the 30-month-old conflict, in which more than 100,000 people have been killed. The report did not specify the number of people killed in the attack. The United States has asserted that more than 1,400 people were killed, including more than 400 children. That would be the worst single death toll in the conflict, in which more than 100,000 people have been killed.
Mr. Assad and Russia, his principal foreign ally, have said Syrian insurgents were responsible.Mr. Assad and Russia, his principal foreign ally, have said Syrian insurgents were responsible.
The release of the report came as a separate panel of investigators from the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva said they were investigating 14 episodes of suspected chemical weapons use in the conflict and would use the report to help identify those responsible for the Aug. 21 attack.The release of the report came as a separate panel of investigators from the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva said they were investigating 14 episodes of suspected chemical weapons use in the conflict and would use the report to help identify those responsible for the Aug. 21 attack.
Panel members and diplomats acknowledge, however, that gaining entry to Syria is essential to complete the investigation. Syria this month invited one member of the panel, Carla del Ponte, to visit “in her personal capacity,” said another member, Paulo Pinheiro, but any visit could take place only as a member of the commission. The four-member panel, he said, had asked that he also be allowed to visit. Panel members and diplomats acknowledge, however, that gaining entry to Syria is essential to complete the investigation. Syria this month invited one of the four panelists, Carla del Ponte, to visit “in her personal capacity,” said Paulo Pinheiro, the panel’s chairman. But he said, but any visit could only take place as a member of the panel. The entire panel, he said, had asked for permission to visit.
Mr. Pinheiro’s commission, which relies on testimony and interviews with Syrian refugees and defectors, has been accused by President Bashar al-Assad of Syria of an inherent antigovernment bias in its quarterly reporting of rights abuses in the 30-month conflict. Mr. Pinheiro has argued that the government should allow it to enter Syria for that very reason. Mr. Pinheiro’s panel, which relies on testimony and interviews with Syrian refugees and defectors, has been accused by President Assad of an inherent antigovernment bias in its quarterly reporting of rights abuses in the conflict. Mr. Pinheiro has argued that the government should allow it to enter Syria for that very reason.
The panel has said that abuses have been committed by both sides in the conflict but that the government is responsible for most of them. The panel has said that abuses have been committed by both sides but that the government is responsible for most of them.
He noted in a prefae to the report that the Syrian government had officially consented on Saturday to join the global treaty that bans chemical weapons, which he called “a welcome development.” ”
Mr. Ban also took note of the agreement reached on Saturday between the United States and Russia on a framework for eliminating Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile and he urged Syria to “implement faithfully all of its disarmament obligations.”

Rick Gladstone reported from New York, and Nick Cumming-Bruce from Geneva.

Rick Gladstone reported from New York, and Nick Cumming-Bruce from Geneva.