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Jazmyne Vann

Robert Phillips

English 3 Honors

8 May, 2017

The Chemical Attacks in Syria

When going to bed at night most people don't worry about being attacked by a chemical

agent or having an airstrike happen in the middle of their town while they sleep, but it happened

to the people in Syria. During the night the unsuspecting people in a rebel town within Syria

called Idlib province had an airstrike that rained down a chemical agent that many didnt even

know was there until it was too late. The chemical attack in Syria killed several residents and

injured even more with a chemical agent that is suspected to be sarin, but no one has taken blame

for killing and maiming hundreds of children and families. The chemical attack in Syria has

many mysteries around it. However, all evidence points towards one answer that the Syrian

government government is denying. The Syrian government launched an aerial attack on their

own people using an extremely dangerous nerve agent that killed and injured many.

The Syrian government has a history of using chemical agents on their people. One

example was in the city of Damascus in August 2013, and now there is a big possibility that it

has happened again in April of 2017. After Damascus, the American government threatened to

intervene and the Syrian government agreed to get rid of all of their remaining sarin. The

Damascus and Idlib attacks happened four years apart, but they have two things in common; they

both attacked civilians and they both involved the chemical agent sarin. Sarin is an extremely

hazardous nerve agent that, like most nerve agents, was originally a pesticide used in 1938 that

was labeled to be the most volatile nerve agent by the Center for Disease control(Kesten).
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Sarin is odorless, colorless and tasteless, so when the attack occurred most people ran towards

the attack sight to help the injured not realizing they were risking their own lives in the process.

The quote Not all heroes wear capes. by an unknown author conveys half of what

happened the when the innocent victims were attacked causing several injuries and deaths. A

witness from the night named Hassam Abu Ammash is a 43 year old man, who lost 21 relatives

in the attack, said that on the night of the attack several people woke up after the airstrike and

saw a cloud that was assumed to be dust from the airstrike. However, the cloud was not made of

dust, it was made of sarin. Another victim of the chemical attack suffered from symptoms that

usually happen to those exposed to nerve agents, such as blurred vision, splitting headache, and

lethargy. The victims name is Abdullah and he is an activist journalist who also stated that

citizens werent aware of the gas at first, and they ran towards it in order to help anyone, but later

needed help themselves. Since sarin is an almost undetectable chemical agent the likelihood of

anyone immediately discovering it is very low, so whoever launched the attack had the intent to

hurt as many civilians as possible. The extent of the damage nay chemical agent can cause is

extensive and can have many extremely harmful symptoms. Several of the people who died from

the attack died because they ran towards the attack site to help others. Not many people are

willing to risk their lives in order to save other and sadly these heroes are currently unknown, but

their deaths have been grieved.

Almost all of the people who died because of the attack from asphyxiation that was a

result of chemical exposure and all those who were alive were taken to the nearest available

hospital. The amount of people injured was so large that many had to go to Turkish hospitals for

help and those who were too disabled to go that far had to receive help from a near by makeshift

hospital. Fares al-Jundi is a doctor lived in a nearby village and rushed over to the Maarat al-
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Numan hospital after the airstrikes and claimed that what he witnessed was a horrifying sight.

After the airstrike there were injured victims covered the entire floors from patient rooms, to

operating rooms, and any other remaining space in the corridors. Around 500 people were

brought into the hospital while around 32 people were brought to Turkey to get treatment. The

Turkish government took the initiative to help the injured Syrians within their hospitals and even

performed autopsies on the dead. The Turkish Prime minister later revealed that over 80 people

Idlib province were killed, while 27 people within the rebel rebel town were killed. Half of them

were children that all died from exposure to nerve gas. The World Health Organization also

claimed that that the victims showed symptoms that corresponded to those shown in others who

have been exposed to a strong nerve agent. Along with the World Health Organization and

turkish government, Doctors Without Borders who later came to the scene also claimed that the

victims showed signs that usually correspond with those shown in those exposed to a neurotoxic

agent like sarin. Three reliable sources all state that the chemical agent involved seems to be

sarin. Evidence has already been collected in order to confirms these results.

The Syrian government denies any involvment with the chemical attack in Syria and

states they no longer use sarin after agreeing to get rid of in 2013. Doctor Monzer Khalid, the

health director of Idlib Province, has declared that medical teams have already collected samples

like blood, urine, hair and clothing from the injured party along with materials in the area where

the poison might have spread. These samples have already been preserved and presented to

international agencies and government as evidence, but the Organization for the Prohibition of

Chemical Weapons may not accept the samples because they did not collect collect the samples

themselves. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has refused to accept

samples in the past or has given the samples less credibility as evidence, says the Syrians who
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have collected samples for years from other suspected attacks. The doctors and activist who live

in the opposition territory have seen an increase in attacks involving chemical agents recently,

but usually those attacks use chlorine which is a less deadly nerve agent than sarin. The Syrian

Network for Human Rights have said theyve seen a recorded number of nine strikes since the

beginning of the year. The Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem denies the Syrian

government's involvement with the attack and has implied that the real culprits are rebel forces.

The Foreign Minister has told reporters that a credible investigation on the attack has to start

with Damascus, not Turkey. Russia has supported the Syrian claim that the airstrike was caused

by rebel munitions, while their spokesman Dmitry Peskov calls the attack a dangerous and

monstrous crime(Loveluck). Peskov has even gone as far as criticizing other for blaming Syrian

forces instead of the rebel groups.

The Syrian government states that the rebel forces used weapons theyve brought from

Iraq and Turkey but that causes many things not to add up. Starters even if the rebel forces had

the chemicals there is no record of them having any planes to use for any kind of airstrike. Also,

if the weapons used in the airstrike came from Turkey why were they more eager to help the

victims than the Syrian government was? Although the attack happened on the oppositions

ground. The Syrian government could have sent some type of help for the civilians.Further, why

would the Syrian government specifically say that the investigation of the second attack in Syria

to involve sarin gas should be investigated by Damascus, which was the location of the first

attack? Why wouldnt they state some other city in Syria that hasnt been attacked by the

suspected chemical agent used in the current attack? The Syrian government's statement causes

many questions to arise that dont currently have answers and seems to just make the entire

situation more confusing.

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The chemical attack on Syria was a traumatizing event that left many dead, injured, alone

and confused. The culprit of the attack is assumed to be the President of Bashar al-Assad by

many except a few, like Russia who also think that the rebel forces are behind it. Even if the

culprit is found, any punishment they receive could never make up for what happened that day in

Syria. There is no way to bring back all of the dead family members and civilians or to heal the

minds of the survivors. Maybe someday the conflict in Syria will be resolved and events like the

chemical attack will never happen again.

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Works Cited

"Autopsy 'shows chemical weapons used in Syria attack'." Al Jazeera America, 6 Apr. 2017.

Global Issues in Context. 21 Apr. 2017.

"From airstrike to aftermath: How a chemical attack in Syria unfolded." CNN Wire, 5 Apr.

2017. Global Issues in Context. 25 Apr. 2017.

Kesten, Rebecca. "What Is Sarin? In Syria, Potent Gas Believed to Be behind Fatal

Attack."Fox News. FOX News Network, 05 Apr. 2017. Web. 05 May 2017.

Kingsley, Patrick, and Anne Barnard. "Banned Nerve Agent Sarin Used in Syria Chemical

Attack, Turkey Says." New York Times, 7 Apr. 2017, p. NA(L). Global Issues in

Context. 24 Apr. 2017.

Loveluck, Louisa, and Zakaria Zakaria. "World Health Organization: Syria chemical attack

likely involved nerve agent." Washington Post, 5 Apr. 2017. Global Issues in

Context. 24 Apr. 2017.

Loveluck, Louisa. "Turkish autopsies confirm chemical weapons used in Syria attack that

killed scores." Washington Post, 6 Apr. 2017. Global Issues in Context. 21 Apr.

2017.