Keyword: Damascus

How Assad regime built chemical arsenal with aid of Germany and other countries

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Russia, Armenia and the former West Germany were all major suppliers of technology and raw materials for Syria's programme of chemical weapon production, exiled Syrians who worked on the project have told Mediapart. They also say that, in violation of intentional law, the Damascus regime still has a secret arsenal of up to 35 tonnes of chemical weapons. René Backmann reports.

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Revealed: Assad regime's plan to use chemical weapons against opposition in 2009

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Sarin production site at Al Dumayr in Syria which was partially destroyed by the United Nations. Sarin production site at Al Dumayr in Syria which was partially destroyed by the United Nations.

Exiled Syrian scientists have told Mediapart that the Damascus regime drew up plans to use chemical weapons against internal opposition two years before the start of the current civil war in 2011. The scientists, who were involved in the making of the weapons but who defected after misgivings about its use inside the country, say the country's president Bashar al-Assad had become unnerved by protests in Iran in 2009 and the regime had ordered seven military basses to be made ready to store chemical weapons – including sarin gas. René Backmann reports.

France urges war crimes investigation into Aleppo bombardment

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French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said bombing of rebel-held parts of Syrian town of Aleppo by Russia and Damascus regime are war crimes over which Paris is to ask the International Criminal Court to launch an investigation.