Syria’s newly reactivated mission to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has warned that remnants of chemical weapons left across the country pose a direct threat to civilians in more than 100 suspected locations.
The warning came from Syria’s permanent representative to the OPCW, Dr. Mohammad Katoub, who said that toxic remnants remain in areas previously struck or used for weapons production. He noted that many of these locations are close to population centers, raising fears of accidental exposure.
Speaking on the first working day of the restored Syrian mission in The Hague, Katoub told the state-run channel Al-Ikhbariyah that the Assad regime continued to use chemical weapons for 12 years. He said the most recent documented incident occurred on December 5, 2024, in the village of Khattab, in Hama countryside.
Damascus announced Katoub’s appointment late Friday, reactivating its mission to the OPCW after nearly a year of suspension. However, Katoub said that Syria has not yet recovered its full privileges and remains without voting rights, though there is a pending recommendation for review by member states.
A physician by training, Katoub worked in Eastern Ghouta during the years of siege imposed by Bashar al-Assad’s forces. Known then as “Majid Abu Ali,” he was one of the key witnesses to the 2013 sarin massacre in Ghouta, which killed nearly 1,400 people.
Appearing Saturday from the OPCW office in The Hague, Katoub revealed that the portrait of Bashar al-Assad that once hung in the mission’s office has been replaced with a page listing some of the Ghouta victims. “The wall is not big enough to hold the names of all the chemical-weapons victims in Syria,” he said.
One survivor, Majid Haiba, who was present during the 2013 attacks in Moadamiya al-Sham and Darayya, told Asharq Al-Awsat that he, his wife and daughter inhaled a toxic gas and continue to suffer from respiratory and neurological illnesses to this day.
A former conscript in the Syrian military’s chemical-warfare unit, Haiba said hospitals in Damascus refused to treat them, forcing them to flee illegally to Daraa and then to Zaatari camp in Jordan, where they met a French medical team. The team took clothing, hair and blood samples, he said, in hopes of preserving evidence.
According to Haiba, his testimony did not stop further attacks. He added that several chemical-research facilities he had identified were later struck by Israel, including sites in Barzeh, Jmeiraya, a Fourth Division facility near Damascus, and a facility in Masyaf, in Hama countryside.
Katoub said Syria has begun seeking technical cooperation from OPCW member states to safely remove toxic remnants. He confirmed that national teams have gathered information on around 100 suspected sites and have already inspected 23 of them, although more likely exist. He added that multiple ministries — including Defense, Emergency Services, Health, Justice and a transitional justice authority — are now working to secure contaminated areas, including some damaged by Israeli strikes.
Chemical Weapons Use in Syria: Key Incidents
Human Rights Watch says the Assad regime used chemical weapons on a wide scale throughout the conflict that began in 2011. Documented attacks include the first suspected nerve-agent use in Khan al-Assal in 2012; the large-scale sarin attack on Eastern Ghouta in 2013; a nerve agent strike in Homs the same year; sarin use in Saraqib and Kafr Zita in 2014; multiple chlorine attacks in Idlib in 2015; toxic strikes in Arbin, Saraqib and Aleppo’s al-Zahra district in 2016; the sarin attack on Khan Sheikhoun in 2017; and the Douma chlorine and suspected sarin attack in 2018.
