Syria gas attack victim, awaiting justice, say impunity fuels war crimes

Abdel Hamid al-Youssef, an internally displaced man who says his wife and infant twins were killed when poison gas was dropped on their home town of Khan Sheikhoun in 2017, stands outside his house in the rebel-held town of Sarmada in Idlib province, Syria April 1, 2022. Picture taken April 1, 2022. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

Abdel Hamid al-Youssef claims that poison gas was dropped on his town in Syria in 2017, killing 25 members of his family, including his wife and infant twins, in an attack that a United Nations-backed investigation determined was carried out by the Syrian government.

 

"Everything was gone in an instant. Life had been obliterated utterly "Youssef, 33, spoke of the sarin assault in Khan Sheikhoun, one of dozens of instances chemical weapons have allegedly been used in the country's 11-year-long conflict.

 

According to Human Rights Watch, a New York-based rights organization, the bombardment in Syria's rebel-held northwest killed at least 90 people, 30 of whom were children.

 

Syria's allies, Russia and China, had previously vetoed moves at the UN to initiate an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria by the time of the hit.

 

A crater is seen at the site of an airstrike, after what rescue workers described as a suspected gas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, Syria April 4, 2017. REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah/File Photo

As the fifth anniversary of the Khan Sheikhoun incident approaches, survivors and human rights activists warn that the failure to pursue those responsible for chemical strikes in Syria could encourage the use of such banned weapons in the future.

 

Without giving specific evidence, the US and other countries have warned Russia that it may use chemical or biological weapons in its invasion of Ukraine. The claims have been denounced by the Kremlin as "diversionary techniques."

 

Youssef, who wants Syrian President Bashar al-Assad held accountable, stated, "There is no deterrent for Russia." "The criminal is free until today."

 

The Syrian government has denied employing chemical weapons in the conflict, which began as an uprising against Assad's regime and has claimed the lives of at least 350,000 people. In 2013, Syria ratified international treaties prohibiting the use of such weapons.

 

Youssef remembers every moment of the Khan Sheikhoun attack, starting with the sound of jets launching many air raids on the town beginning at 6:30 a.m.

 

Youssef went to his parents' house in an attempt to get his family to safety. His wife continued on while he came to a halt to assist a neighbor who was yelling for assistance.

 

Youssef stated that he assisted in the loading of victims into a pickup truck. Some people were literally foaming at the mouth.

 

Youssef passed out while attempting to assist his niece. He awoke hours later in the hospital, only to realize the magnitude of the disaster when he went home that afternoon.

 

"There were rooms of martyrs. I didn't know which one to take: my brother, my nephew, my children, my wife," said Youssef. "They put them in shrouds. We took them to the cemetery and buried them there."

 

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration responded by firing 59 cruise missiles at the air strip from which it said the attack was launched.

Six months later, a report by an investigative mechanism established by the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) - which enforces treaties banning the use of such arms - said the victims' symptoms were consistent with large-scale poisoning by the nerve agent sarin.

It said it was "confident that the Syrian Arab Republic is responsible for the release of sarin at Khan Shaykhun on 4 April 2017". The town fell to government forces in 2019.

 

Youssef says he still feels the affects five years later and faints when he smells strong odors like household chlorine. The psychological impact, on the other hand, has been the most significant, he added, adding that he lives in fear.

 

Survivors of sarin strikes may experience long-term eye impairments, gastro intestinal troubles, and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to chemical weapons specialist Professor Alastair Hay.

 

"The main impact is usually catastrophic death, and it happens very quickly," he said, adding that additional evidence on the long-term effects of chemical weapons exposure is needed.

 

At the time of the attack, Russia - which threw its military support behind Assad in 2015 - said the chemicals belonged to Syrian rebels, not the government. President Vladimir Putin said he believed Washington planned more missile strikes, and that rebels planned to stage chemical weapons attacks to provoke them.