1973 War
Syria’s subsequent defeat by Israel in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war was a turning point in its chemical weapons program, he said.
The United Nations Security Council lost an opportunity to crack down on chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war in 1984, Guthrie said. After a UN team investigated reports of chemical attacks by Saddam Hussein’s forces, the council issued a statement condemning the use of chemical weapons, without naming Iraq. The U.S., which supported Iraq at the time, blocked a more strongly-worded statement, Guthrie said.
“The Iraqis read that as the world doesn’t care,” and the move sent a signal that Cold War alliances would prevent the international community from coming down hard on chemical weapons, he said.
When the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 on the grounds that it possessed weapons of mass destruction, Libya took note, and signed the Chemical Weapons Convention the following year, Smithson said.
Economic Incentive
While that also helped ease U.S. sanctions on Libya, and enabled it to resume oil shipments, Syria has never had any such economic incentive to give up its chemical weapons, Guthrie said.
At the United Nations, Russia is now playing the role on Syria’s behalf that the U.S. played with Iraq in the 1980s. Russia yesterday objected to a UN resolution that would have authorized military action to protect civilians, prompting the U.S. and the U.K. to say they’re preparing to act without the international body’s approval.
Video footage of the aftermath of a suspected chemical attack Aug. 21 on Ghouta, near the capital Damascus, shows people with symptoms such as narrowing of the pupils, excessive salivation and convulsions that point to exposure to sarin or another nerve agent, according to Ralf Trapp, a former scientific adviser at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
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