Syrian forces used gas attacks as key part of campaign to retake Aleppo, Human Rights Watch says – Washington Post

Chlorine gas attacks paved the way for Syrian forces as they advanced into rebel-held portions of east Aleppo during the final months of the battle for the city, a new studyfrom Human Rights Watch said Monday.

While forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have usedchlorine gas on opposition fighters sporadically since 2014, the frequency of chemical attacks between Nov. 17 and Dec. 13 point to a military strategy to use the banned weapon to force both fighters and civilians fromAleppo, according to the report.

The pattern of the chlorine attacks shows that they were coordinated with the overall military strategy for retaking Aleppo, not the work of a few rogue elements, Ole Solvang, deputy emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, said in the report.

[Syrian military says it has retaken control of key city of Aleppo]

Human Rights Watch documented at least eight separate chlorine gas attacks before a cease-fire was signed Dec 13. The attacks resulted in the deaths of nine civilians, including four children, and wounded roughly 200. If confirmed, the attacks would be a significant breach of the 1993Chemical Weapons Convention that Syria signed in 2013. Although chlorine is not considered a chemical weaponby the convention because of its industrial uses, the document explicitly statesthat weaponizing the chemical properties of a substanceis prohibited.

When inhaled in large enough quantities, chlorine can be fatally toxic.

The Syrian government has routinely denied using internationally condemnedweapons such as chemical, cluster andincendiary munitions. In 2013, Syrian government forces were accused of using sarin gas in an attack that killed hundreds, bringingthe United States to the brinkof military action against Assad. In a last-minute deal coordinated by Russia,the Syrian presidentpledged to give up his chemical weaponstockpiles, and inOctober of that year signed the Chemical Weapons Convention. The Islamic State has also used chemical weapons, including variants of sulfur mustard powder.

Following the deal, however, Assad continued to use chlorine as a weapon. Last year, a United Nations investigative teamdeterminedthat Syrian government forces had been responsible for three separate gas attacks inApril 2014 and March 2015.

Although the report doesnt directly implicate Russia, it does say that Russian forces benefited from the strategic effects of the gas attacks. Russian forces had been providing close air support for Syrian government forces since September 2015 and flew hundreds, if not thousands, of sorties during the battle to retake Aleppo. Russian Special Operations forces also likely participated in the campaign, fighting and advisingalongside Syrian troops as they pushed into the city.

The report relied oninterviews with witnesses, videos, photographs and social media postings to verify the eight attacks. Some of theposts included pictures of thespent gas canisters dropped from Syrian helicoptersand footage of the trademark yellow-greenchlorine clouds billowing fromresidential areas.

The Human Rights Watch study was one of two reports released Monday that covered the battle of Aleppo. The Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank, published a report titled Breaking Aleppo that also accused the Syrian government of using chlorine bombs and the joint Syrian-Russian air campaign ofdropping cluster and incendiarymunitions on civilian areas.

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Syrian forces used gas attacks as key part of campaign to retake Aleppo, Human Rights Watch says - Washington Post