More than 1,500 people were killed in more than 200 chemical weapons attacks between late 2012 and the fall of the Assad regime, and Syria’s new authorities are now trying to clean up the wreckage while also chasing accountability for the people who ran the machine. Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani said, according to SANA, that Syria is beginning "a new phase" in addressing the country’s chemical weapons legacy. "Tomorrow, the Syrian Arab Republic begins a new phase in addressing the burden of these weapons, as we have initiated the necessary technical and operational measures to eliminate them in cooperation with international partners," Shaibani wrote.
The State Leaves the Poison Behind
The timing is hard to miss. The developments came on the thirteenth anniversary of the chemical weapons gas attack on Ghouta and as Syria continued its broader effort to rebuild relations with Western countries following the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024. The article said the new authorities in Damascus are seeking to distinguish themselves from the previous government that ruled Syria for more than five decades. That previous government built its rule on the Baath Party and the security services, and when peaceful protests erupted in 2011 as part of the Arab Spring, the regime responded by attacking civilians and received support from Iran, Hezbollah and Russia.
On August 21, 2013, rockets carrying a chemical sarin nerve agent struck areas of Eastern and Western Ghouta outside Damascus, in an area held by Syrian rebels. More than 1,400 civilians were killed, according to reports, and thousands more suffered poisoning and other affects. The attack became a key moment in the Syrian conflict, with images of families dying in their homes, children gasping for air and overwhelmed hospitals circulating around the world. The article said the attack showed the regime would use chemical weapons and gave the world a chance to stop the regime, but the US, UK and others held back from airstrikes. Hundreds of thousands more people would be killed in the war.
International Institutions, Delayed and Selective
OPCW Director-General Sabrina Dallafior said this week that recent discoveries of previously undeclared chemical munitions show both the scale of the remaining work and the importance of continued cooperation. According to SANA, Dallafior said discussions with Syria’s ambassador to the OPCW focused on the next steps, and that recent progress showed "what can be achieved through serious cooperation." She also said the OPCW remains committed to ensuring that chemical weapons never again inflict such suffering. The language is tidy. The record is not.
According to a statement published by SANA, more than 200 chemical weapons attacks occurred between late 2012 and the fall of the Assad regime, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,500 people. International investigations by the OPCW and the United Nations attributed attacks to the Assad government, including the sarin attack on Khan Shaykhun in 2017 and chlorine attacks in other parts of Syria. The United States and Britain eventually responded with missile strikes targeting facilities linked to Syria’s chemical weapons program. The institutions arrived late, then spoke in the language of process.
Syria says it has restored full cooperation with the OPCW following the fall of the Assad government and is now pursuing technical measures to eliminate the remaining elements of the former chemical weapons program. Damascus says accountability will remain a central priority. Interior Minister Anas Khattab said authorities have already arrested several individuals connected to the chemical attacks while continuing efforts to locate additional suspects. "No criminal will escape punishment, regardless of how much time passes," Khattab said, according to SANA. That promise now sits inside a new state apparatus, with new uniforms and the same old habit of deciding who gets punished and who gets to speak.
Who Gets to Write the Record
France has become one of Damascus’s principal partners in documenting crimes committed during the civil war, according to the article. A joint Syrian-French statement commemorating the Ghouta anniversary reaffirmed both countries’ commitment to combatting chemical weapons’ use, and described French President Emmanuel Macron’s July 2026 visit to Syria as opening "a new phase" in bilateral relations after years of relations being broken due to the Assad regime. The new phase, like the old one, still runs through governments, ministries, and international bodies. Ordinary people remain the ones who inhaled the gas, buried the dead, and waited while powerful states weighed their options.
The Assad regime denied responsibility. The new authorities say they want accountability. The OPCW says cooperation matters. The United Nations says investigations matter. The United States and Britain eventually fired missiles. And the people of Ghouta, and the thousands poisoned elsewhere, are left as the permanent evidence that state power doesn’t just govern territory. It can turn the air itself into a weapon.