Human Rights Watch: Evidence ‘Strongly Suggests’ the Syrian Government Carried Out Chemical Attack

Screen shot from video shot inside of Syria detailing alleged chemical weapons use. Taken from Human Rights Watch slideshow, which reads: "The 140mm Soviet-produced rocket motor found at the site of the Moadamiya alleged chemical weapons attack. The rocket is capable of carrying a 2.2kg Sarin warhead."

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

While the US, Russia and other countries consider a plan that would see Syria turn over its chemical weapons, another group weighed in today on who might have carried out an alleged chemical attack against civilians in Ghouta, just outside of Damascus, on August 21st.

The United States and others put the blame for that attacks squarely on the shoulders of the regime of Bashar Al-Assad. For its part, the Syrian government claims that it was actually rebel forces who carried out the attack.

Today, the international rights group Human Rights Watch said that it has been conducting its own investigation into those attacks in Ghouta. In a report on its investigation, HRW says the evidence it’s seen “strongly suggests” that Syrian government forces launched rockets into those rebel-held areas, and that those rockets carried a nerve agent, probably Sarin gas.

“We interviewed eyewitnesses and doctors, and we did a very close analysis of the symptoms the victims showed,” said Peter Bouckaert, the Geneva-based Emergencies Director for HRW. In an interview with The World, Bouckaert said that those symptoms were consistent with the effects of Sarin.

“We also reconstructed the weaponry that was used in the attacks,” Bouckaert said. HRW found evidence of Soviet-era rockets known to be in the hands of Syrian forces.

Based on those strands of evidence, Bouckaert says, Human Rights Watch is confident in their contention that the Syrian government, not the rebels, carried out the attacks.

“It’s not a smoking gun,” Bouckaert admits, “but I do think there’s a very strong case.”

Clark Boyd

Clark Boyd is a reporter for The World. From advances in technology to the ups and downs of the markets, he has reported from many different countries for the show. He is now based out of the Boston newsroom.