Sulfur mustard, also known as mustard gas, is an outlawed chemical weapon that attacks the skin, eyes, lungs and other internal organs of victims.
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The deadly gas was used in flashpoint town Marea in the northern province of Aleppo on August 21, the source from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said, adding that it was the first time in Syria’s war that the use of the chemical had been confirmed. “It is very likely in that the effects of sulfur mustard resulted in the death of a baby”, it stated.
Shortly after the attack was first reported, The Wall Street Journal wrote (Google link) that one of the ways ISIS could have obtained the mustard gas was by capturing the chemical weapons stockpiles of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, which were supposed to have been eliminated under an worldwide agreement administered by OPCW. The report does not specifically mention any fighting force as being responsible. Smoke billowing on the outskirts of Marea on September 1. “Both are worrying options”.
Kurdish authorities said earlier this month that Islamic State fighters fired mortar rounds containing mustard agent at Kurdish peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq during clashes in August. It’s unclear if ISIS made the chemical weapon or seized control of a stockpile.
A special session has been called by the OPCW’s 41-member Executive Council to discuss the Syrian findings and it will be held in The Hague on November 23, sources at the OPCW told Reuters.
A confidential report on the issue has been sent to the OPCW member states.
In August, Syria’s envoy to the United Nations categorically denied claims that the country had used chemical weapons.
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UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will get a chance to review all three reports later this month, according to Kirby.
