UN Team Accuses ISIS of Using Chemical Weapons in Iraq

UNESCO Director Audrey Azoulay during her participation, Monday, in the unveiling of a bell specially designed for the “Al-Saa’a Church” in Mosul, which ISIS occupied for three years. (AFP)
UNESCO Director Audrey Azoulay during her participation, Monday, in the unveiling of a bell specially designed for the “Al-Saa’a Church” in Mosul, which ISIS occupied for three years. (AFP)
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UN Team Accuses ISIS of Using Chemical Weapons in Iraq

UNESCO Director Audrey Azoulay during her participation, Monday, in the unveiling of a bell specially designed for the “Al-Saa’a Church” in Mosul, which ISIS occupied for three years. (AFP)
UNESCO Director Audrey Azoulay during her participation, Monday, in the unveiling of a bell specially designed for the “Al-Saa’a Church” in Mosul, which ISIS occupied for three years. (AFP)

The United Nations Investigative Team for Accountability of ISIS (UNITAD) revealed in a report that the terrorist group used chemical weapons in Iraq.

According to the report, which was submitted to the UN Security Council on Tuesday for discussion, ISIS used chemical weapons in the areas it controlled in Iraq and Syria between 2014 and 2019.

Key lines of inquiry during this period concerned evidence of ISIS financial, procurement and logistical arrangements and linkages to command elements, as well as an expanded understanding of suspected sites of manufacturing, production and weapon use across Iraq.

“Evidence suggests that ISIS manufactured and produced chemical rockets and mortars, chemical ammunition for rocket-propelled grenades, chemical warheads and improvised explosive devices,” the report said.

“Furthermore, the ISIS program involved the development, testing, weaponization and deployment of a range of agents, including aluminum phosphide, chlorine, clostridium botulinum, cyanide, nicotine, ricin and thallium sulfate.”

The report said that evidence, including records, of ISIS training senior operatives on the use of chemical weapons, including chemical dispersion devices, were examined.

The Team affirmed that it attended incident sites, met with affected communities and Iraqi authorities and preserved substantial volumes of testimonial, digital and documentary evidence, noting that it focused its efforts on the attack against Tazah Khurmatu on March 8, 2016.

Dr. Moataz Mohieddine, strategic expert on armed groups, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the United States has repeatedly declared ISIS’s ability to manufacture chemical weapons and use them in its battles, especially in those to liberate Mosul.

He indicated that the US discovered sums of samples of these weapons that were seized by ISIS militants from the US and the Iraqi army’s weapons warehouses.

“ISIS former leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi supervised the formation of cells that depended on the establishment of a chemical and biological arsenal,” Mohieddine explained.

He pointed to a report by The Washington Post that underlined Iraqi Kurdish intelligence reports that shed new light on the role played by Salih al-Sabawi, a mysterious figure known within the terrorist group as Abu Malik, and the ambitious plan by ISIS leaders to develop and use weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and abroad.

Sabawi was part of a former cell that worked in Iraqi chemical facilities and in the production of weapons of mass destruction that the former army used in its war against the Kurds and Iran, the strategist noted.

He affirmed that when arrested by the US forces, Sabawi said that ISIS collected a lot of chemical materials from the weapons left behind by the Iraqi army and the US in large areas of Anbar and Mosul.

Mohieddine further stated that the Iraqi forces captured a very large cell that cooperated with ISIS after the liberation battles.

“The cell explained the steps of the group’s development of the chemical weapons industry and how its materials were transported from central and northern Iraq to Syria as well.”

He named an Iraqi engineer, Abrar al-Kubaisi, who helped ISIS manufacture the toxic substance, ricin, in simple laboratories.

Caption: UNESCO Director Audrey Azoulay during her participation, Monday, in the unveiling of a bell specially designed for the “Al-Saa’a Church” in Mosul, which ISIS occupied for three years. (AFP)



Syria’s Reconciliation Committee Prioritizes Stability after Anger Over Prisoner Releases

Member of the High Committee for National Reconciliation Hassan Soufan and the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Facebook)
Member of the High Committee for National Reconciliation Hassan Soufan and the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Facebook)
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Syria’s Reconciliation Committee Prioritizes Stability after Anger Over Prisoner Releases

Member of the High Committee for National Reconciliation Hassan Soufan and the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Facebook)
Member of the High Committee for National Reconciliation Hassan Soufan and the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Facebook)

Syria’s High Committee for National Reconciliation has defended recent controversial prisoner releases, saying the decision aims to preserve national stability amid ongoing tensions.

Committee member Hassan Soufan confirmed that several officers recently freed had voluntarily surrendered in 2021 at the Iraqi border and in the Al-Sukhna region, under a formal request for safe conduct.

Speaking at a press conference in Damascus on Tuesday, Soufan addressed public backlash following the releases and acknowledged the deep pain felt by victims’ families.

“We fully understand the anger and grief of the families of martyrs,” he said. “But the current phase requires decisions that can help secure relative stability for the coming period.”

The controversy erupted after the Ministry of Interior announced on Sunday the release of dozens of detainees in Latakia, many of whom were arrested during the “Deterrence of Aggression” operation, which contributed to the fall of the Assad regime.

Among those involved in the mediation effort was Fadi Saqr, a former commander in the regime’s National Defense Forces, who has been accused of war crimes, including involvement in the Tadamon massacre in southern Damascus.

Soufan explained that the released officers had undergone investigation and were found not to have participated in war crimes. “Keeping them imprisoned no longer serves a national interest,” he said. “It has no legal justification.”

He stressed that Syria is in a delicate phase of national reconciliation, in which balancing justice and peace is critical.

“There are two parallel tracks - transitional justice and civil peace - and today, the priority is civil peace, as it lays the groundwork for all other strategic efforts,” he said.

Soufan added that the committee has requested expanded powers from the Syrian president, including the authority to release detainees not proven guilty and to coordinate directly with state institutions.

He insisted that the aim is not to bypass justice, but to prevent further bloodshed. “Vengeance and retribution are not paths to justice,” he said. “They allow real criminals to slip away while deepening divisions.”

While affirming that transitional justice remains essential, Soufan noted that it should focus on top perpetrators of atrocities, not individuals who merely served under the regime. “Justice means accountability for those who planned and carried out major crimes, not blanket punishment.”