OPCW Report Blames Syria Govt for Three Chemical Attacks in One Week

Pompeo endorses report, says US concurs with findings

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) issued its report on 2017 chemical attacks in Syria on Wednesday, and as was previously reported, they blamed the Assad government for chemical attacks. Indeed, they claimed Syria launched three distinct chemical attacks in a single week in 2017.

This is the first report out of the OPCW since they were empowered to assign blame for the attacks. This was pushed by Western countries specifically to blame the Syrian government and create a pretext for more sanctions moves.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement shortly after the report, saying the OPCW’s findings concurred with the US efforts of the past several years to blame Syria. He added that the US believes Syria still has chemical munitions and the ability to develop new arms.

Reports of chemical exposure years ago did not come with any finding of guilt, and at the time ISIS was being very public about developing its own deliverable chemicals. This has made who carried out specific attacks highly politicized, with the West proffering to blame Assad for the attacks, to justify ongoing intervention within Syria.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.