Statement On 'The Second Anniversary Of The Syrian Regime’s Chemical Attack On Civilians In Douma'

April 7 marks the second anniversary of the Douma chemical attack. On the morning of April 7, 2018, the Assad regime deliberately used chlorine gas to target civilians in Douma, a town in the suburbs of Syria’s capital, Damascus. Victims rapidly experienced vision loss, nausea, and ultimately respiratory failure.

The Assad regime’s chemical attack against innocent civilians killed at least 44 people. The regime, backed by its Iranian and Russian allies, denied all involvement. Russian state-backed media have led a campaign to discredit witnesses and victims. The regime and Russia have sought to obstruct the investigation of the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission in Syria on numerous occasions, including denying OPCW investigators access to the site until April 21, 2018. This investigation ultimately confirmed the use of chemical weapons at Douma and discredited the regime’s claims that the attack had been staged by the Syrian opposition. The Syrian Emergency Task Force is grateful to France, the United Kingdom, and the United States for their decisive airstrike on regime targets one week later on April 14, 2018.

Please join us in commemorating this tragedy in honour of the innocent victims. We urge the international community to hold the Assad regime accountable for its deliberate use of chemical and conventional weapons against Syrian civilians, while calling for an end to the killing in Syria. We continue to work tirelessly to document the numerous war crimes committed by the Assad regime.

“Over the past nine years, countless massacres have unfolded in Syria at the hands of the Assad regime and its backers,” said SETF Executive Director, Mouaz Moustafa. “On the anniversary of the attack on Douma, SETF calls on the international community, led by the U.S., to bring an end to the killing in Syria and to hold war criminals accountable so that one day Syrians might live in a country of peace, democracy, and justice.”

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