️ Syrian authorities have arrested a former colonel identified as a chemical weapons specialist who allegedly managed sarin gas depots and oversaw production for the regime of ousted President Bashar al-Assad. The Interior Ministry named the suspect as Ahmed Habib Ali, calling him a “chemical weapons expert.”

️ According to the ministry, Ali was responsible for sarin storage and chemical manufacturing at Unit 417, a facility near Damascus. He is accused of supervising the production of approximately 20 sarin-laden bombs, each weighing 250 kilograms (550 pounds), which were allegedly used in attacks on Syrian cities and towns in 2013 and 2017.

️ The arrest comes just a week after Syria was reinstated into the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The watchdog had suspended Syria’s voting rights in 2021 after concluding that its air force had used sarin and chlorine gas against its own people.

️ The deadliest attack occurred in August 2013, when the Syrian army was accused of gassing rebel-held areas, killing more than 1,400 men, women, and children, according to U.S. intelligence and rights groups. At the height of the civil war, facing the threat of U.S. strikes, al-Assad’s government agreed to hand over its chemical arsenal. Despite that pledge, Damascus was accused of four more sarin and chlorine attacks on opposition towns between 2014 and 2017.

️ Ali’s detention is part of a broader crackdown on former al-Assad-era officials. In April, Syria’s judiciary opened public trials for former officials, with some charges amounting to war crimes tied to the 2011 uprising and its violent suppression. Since al-Assad’s fall in December 2024, authorities have arrested dozens of people over crimes committed during the 13-year civil war.

Source: www.aljazeera.com