Telegraph says it has ‘unequivocal’ proof the Assad regime launched chlorine attacks

The Telegraph reported on Wednesday that President Bashar al-Assad's regime was still using chemical weapons against Syria's civilian population.

The British newspaper based its report on independent testing it said was conducted exclusively for The Telegraph.

Soil samples from the sites of recent alleged attacks were "collected by trained individuals known to this news organisation and analysed by a chemical warfare expert," The Telegraph reported.

British chemical weapons expert Hamish de Bretton-Gordon said, "We have unequivocally proved that the regime has used chlorine and ammonia against its own civilians in the last two to three weeks."

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The Chemical Weapons Convention, of which Syria is a signatory, bans using chlorine and ammonia as weapons.

Both rebels and Syrian activists had alleged that the regime's forces carried out at least three chlorine gas attacks in the last month in Hama and Idlib provinces. The civilian casualties reportedly included several children.

While Assad agreed to let the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to take control of the Syrian government's chemical stockpiles, chlorine was not part of the list.

Chlorine, of course, has many industrial applications including use as a bleach, as an ingredient for pesticides, rubber and solvents. During World War I, it was used as a choking agent.

Analysts cited by Reuters said the pattern of the most recent attacks suggested a coordinated campaign with mounting evidence of the regime being culpable.

The OPCW has set up a fact-finding mission after the most recent allegations, and its statement on Tuesday said the Syrian government had "agreed to accept" the mission.

British Foreign Minister William Hague said, "Reports suggesting that chemical weapons have again been used, heaping further misery on the people of Syria, are utterly sickening."

"Time is of the essence in establishing the full facts," Hague said, stressing the urgency of the OPCW mission.

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