Chemical Weapons

List of Chemical Weapons articles

Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad.
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad.

Inside the U.S.-Russia Deal that Eases Pressure on Assad

Is it a necessary concession for humanitarian reasons, or part of a trend toward normalization?

The headquarters of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is located in The Hague on April 4, 2018.
The headquarters of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is located in The Hague on April 4, 2018.

Don’t Kick Russia Out of the Chemical Weapons Convention Over Navalny

Doing so would be a death sentence for global nonproliferation efforts.

German emergency personnel load the stretcher used to transport Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, at Charité hospital in Berlin on Aug. 22, 2020.
German emergency personnel load the stretcher used to transport Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, at Charité hospital in Berlin on Aug. 22, 2020.

A Chance to Stop Syria and Russia From Using Chemical Weapons

Moscow and Damascus have evaded all accountability, but Biden can build a coalition to change that.

A handout picture provided by the Iranian Army's official website on Sept. 11 shows an Iranian Simorgh drone carrying a weapon during a military exercise in near the Strait of Hormuz.
A handout picture provided by the Iranian Army's official website on Sept. 11 shows an Iranian Simorgh drone carrying a weapon during a military exercise in near the Strait of Hormuz.

A Partial Ban on Autonomous Weapons Would Make Everyone Safer

Great powers stand to lose the most from weapons like drone swarms and should back a limited ban on the most dangerous systems.

Then-Director, Joint Staff, US Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., briefs the press on the strikes against Syria, at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on April 14. 2018.
Then-Director, Joint Staff, US Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., briefs the press on the strikes against Syria, at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on April 14. 2018.

Syria Is Still Trying to Use Chemical Weapons

And not just against civilians at home—but potentially against regional rivals.

A French firefighter displays a test tube as he works to detect the presence of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, in Marseille on April 3.
A French firefighter displays a test tube as he works to detect the presence of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, in Marseille on April 3.

The Next Pandemic Might Not Be Natural

Conspiracy theories and pseudoscience have left the United States fatally unprepared for real biological warfare.

Syrian patients receiving treatment in a basement-turned-clinic in the besieged rebel-held town of Douma, on the outskirts of Damascus, on March 16, 2017.
Syrian patients receiving treatment in a basement-turned-clinic in the besieged rebel-held town of Douma, on the outskirts of Damascus, on March 16, 2017.

Bashar al-Assad Is Waging Biological War—By Neglect

By deliberately destroying and degrading public health infrastructure, the Syrian regime is reviving long-eradicated diseases and killing civilians.

Portraits of the Russian and Syrian presidents are displayed at the government-held Wafideen checkpoint on the outskirts of Damascus on April 3. (Louai Beshara/AFP/Getty Images)
Portraits of the Russian and Syrian presidents are displayed at the government-held Wafideen checkpoint on the outskirts of Damascus on April 3. (Louai Beshara/AFP/Getty Images)

How Social Media Built the Case for Trump’s Strike on Syria

Evidence of chemical weapons used to require a chain of custody. Now, open-source intelligence is often enough.

IDLIB, SYRIA - APRIL 4: Bodies of chlorine gas victims are seen after a suspected chlorine gas attack by Assad Regime forces to Khan Shaykhun town of Idlib, Syria on April 4, 2017.
 (Photo by Sadduldin Zaidan /Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
IDLIB, SYRIA - APRIL 4: Bodies of chlorine gas victims are seen after a suspected chlorine gas attack by Assad Regime forces to Khan Shaykhun town of Idlib, Syria on April 4, 2017. (Photo by Sadduldin Zaidan /Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Syria’s Chemical Weapons Kill Chain

There’s a long list of Syrian officials with blood on their hands -- but the culpability goes all the way to the top.

A man carries a young girl who was injured in a reported barrel-bomb attack by government forces on June 3, 2014 in Kallaseh district in the northern city of Aleppo. Some 2,000 civilians, including more than 500 children, have been killed in regime air strikes on rebel-held areas of Aleppo since January, many of them in barrel bomb attacks. AFP PHOTO / BARAA AL-HALABI        (Photo credit should read BARAA AL-HALABI/AFP/Getty Images)
A man carries a young girl who was injured in a reported barrel-bomb attack by government forces on June 3, 2014 in Kallaseh district in the northern city of Aleppo. Some 2,000 civilians, including more than 500 children, have been killed in regime air strikes on rebel-held areas of Aleppo since January, many of them in barrel bomb attacks. AFP PHOTO / BARAA AL-HALABI (Photo credit should read BARAA AL-HALABI/AFP/Getty Images)

‘They Were Just Struggling to Breathe’

An eyewitness to a chemical attack tells FP that Assad’s forces are dropping barrel bombs containing chlorine gas on hospitals and civilian centers.

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180702407 (1)cwop

As Syrian Civil War Rages On, Chemical Weapons Use Persists

The Syrian government is accused of using chlorine in an attack on the city of Sarmin.

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