Despite Syria’s accession to the Chemical Weapons Convention in 2013, following the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons in Eastern Ghouta, the chemical weapons program in Syria has a long history.
In 2001, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, a non-partisan, non-profit organization with consultative status at the United Nations, published a report detailing the beginnings of Syria’s chemical weapons development.
According to the report, Syria received chemical weapons from Egypt in the 1970s and began domestic production in the 1980s.
By 2006, Syria reportedly possessed:
– An air-dropped bomb weighing 500 kilograms and chemical warheads for Scud-B missiles.
– Two chemical weapons storage sites in Khan Abu Shamat (in Al-Ruhaybah, Damascus countryside) and in Al-Furqlus, east of Homs, central Syria.
Western intelligence reports published by the BBC in 2017 confirmed that scientific research centers in Jamaraya, Barzeh, and Misyaf were producing “chemical weapons.”
The Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) in Jamaraya, near Damascus, was established in the 1980s with Soviet support and is located close to military facilities belonging to the Fourth Division and the Republican Guard.
The Barzeh Scientific Research Center, located within Damascus, was established in the 1970s through a collaboration between the Syrian government and the French government research agency. The Syrian regime claims it is dedicated to “civilian research.”
The Misyaf Scientific Studies and Research Center in the Hama countryside was established in the 1970s and initially overseen by North Korean experts. Since 2010, it has been under the Ministry of Defense.
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