Chlorine: A weapon of last resort for ISIL?
Over the past few weeks several press reports have suggested that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have resorted to chlorine use in attacks in Iraq and Syria. The grouping is no stranger to chlorine. In some earlier incarnation it was known as al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and later it rebranded itself as the Islamic State of Iraq when it explicitly began trying to control territory. Harsh imposition of its strict interpretation of Sharia law and extreme violence towards anybody refusing total subjugation to its rule soon had Sunni tribal leaders uniting in resistance early in …
Roundtable invitation: Syria’s Chemical Demilitarization
INVITATION Syria’s Chemical Demilitarization: Progress, Challenges, and Lessons A Roundtable Discussion with Dr. Paul F. Walker, Amb. Serguei Batsanov, Dr. Ralf Trapp, & Dr. Jean Pascal Zanders Introductory Remarks by Dr. Alexander Likhotal Organized by Green Cross International, Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, and the Chemical Weapons Convention Coalition Monday, May 19, 2014, 17:00-19:00 WMO Building, 7 bis avenue de la Paix, 2d floor Vieira de Mello auditorium Syria’s accession to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in September 2013 made it the 190th State Party to the Convention with only six countries now remaining outside the treaty regime. …
Debunking the myth of Nazi mosquito-borne biological weapons
Starting at the end of January, several press items reported on an academic article published in the December edition of the quarterly magazine Endeavour. Based on documents from the Dachau concentration camp, Dr Klaus Reinhardt, a biologist at the University of Tübingen uncovered that Nazi scientists wanted to use mosquitos as insect vector for the delivery of malaria plasmodium protozoans. According to the article abstract: In January 1942, Heinrich Himmler, head of the Schutzstaffel (SS) and police in Nazi Germany, ordered the creation of an entomological institute to study the physiology and control of insects that inflict harm to humans. …
Syria: incendiary weapon used against civilians
The BBC carries very graphic footage of the aftermath of an incendiary bomb dropped by a fighter jet on to a school playground in the north of Syria. Scores of children have napalm-like burns over their bodies. An incendiary weapon is not a chemical weapon as defined by the Chemical Weapons Convention, because it harms humans through heat rather than the direct effects of poisoning. They include weapons such as napalm or white phosphorus. Incendiary weapons are banned by the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (also known as the Inhumane Weapons Convention), Protocol III. Article I defines an incendiary weapon …
Chloropicrin and its alleged use in the Ukrainian war (part 3)
The first instalment of this four-part blog series reviewed the allegations of Russian chemical weapon (CW) use in the Ukrainian war from its start in 2014 until the present. At the meeting of the Executive Council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in March 2024, the Ukrainian delegate reported 1,060 incidents since the Russian invasion in February 2022. More recently, Ukraine claimed in a note verbale to the OPCW dated 13 June that it had recorded a total of 2,968 cases of Russian use of riot control agents (RCAs) between 15 February 2023 and 25 April …
Chloropicrin and its alleged use in the Ukrainian war (part 2)
The first of four parts in this blog series reviewed the allegations of Russian chemical weapon (CW) use in the Ukrainian war from its start in 2014 until today. The Ukrainian delegate reported 1,060 incidents since the Russian invasion in February 2022 at the meeting of the Executive Council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in March 2024. On 23 May, the Wall Street Journal quoted Ukrainian sources that the number of CW incidents was quickly approaching the 2,000 mark: As of May 3, the Support Forces have confirmed 1,891 such attacks since they began tracking …
Chloropicrin and its alleged use in the Ukrainian war (Part 1)
On 1 May, the United States formally accused Russia of using ‘the chemical weapon chloropicrin against Ukrainian forces in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC)’. It added: ‘We make this determination in addition to our assessment that Russia has used riot control agents as a method of warfare in Ukraine, also in violation of the CWC. The use of such chemicals is not an isolated incident and is probably driven by Russian forces’ desire to dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions and achieve tactical gains on the battlefield.’ Allegations of chemical weapons (CW) use first appeared after the start …
Response is failure in the primary mission of preventing CBW
The Global Partnership against the Spread of Materials and Weapons of Mass Destruction has now been around for over two decades. In the wake of the terrorist attacks against the US in September 2001, it started out as an effort to mobilise the resources of the G8 members to prevent terrorist acquisition of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, and related materials. The weapons, technologies and skills available from the former Soviet Union presented a significant proliferation risk, which the US was already addressing through the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) programme. Now comprising 31 members, the Global Partnership (GP) played a …
Russia’s apoplexy over biological research – Implications for the BTWC and its Articles V and VI
Since the summer, Russia has been adding chapters to the history of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) with its allegations of treaty violations against Ukraine and the USA. So far, it has culminated in convening a Formal Consultative Committee (FCM) under BTWC Article V in September and filing an Article VI complaint accompanied by a draft resolution proposing an investigative commission with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in October. The FCM was inconclusive because states parties reached no consensus on whether Moscow’s allegations have merit. Notwithstanding, a large majority of participating states rejected the accusations in their …
The Retort: Evolving CBW disarmament challenges
Dr Brett Edwards (Lecturer, University of Bath) and Professor Lijun Shang (School of Human Sciences, Metropolitan University London) are collaborating on The Retort, a new series of educational video recordings via YouTube on chemical and biological weapons (CBW), their disarmament, and the evolving threats they still pose. The recordings aim to give the public a general understanding of issues ahead of the review conferences of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (28 November – 16 December 2022) and the Chemical Weapons Convention (May 2023). For each video recording, the intiative takers invite an expert in the field. So far, three …