All sides in conflict in Syria use chemical weapons, experts say

Russia today has presented to the permanent members of the UN Security Council evidence of the use of chemical weapons by militants in Syria on the basis of samples taken at Aleppo, on March 19 sarin was used there. The evidence has already caused an international scandal, as U.S. officials said they did not trust the Russian data and, moreover, did not even see the possibility for the use of chemical weapons in Syria by anyone other than the government.

Chief Scientist at the Center for International Security IWEIR, Natalia Kalinina, told Vestnik Kavkaza that the official statement that was handed by the Russian envoy to the UN contained all the evidence that sarin of homemade production, not industrial but made locally, has been used. "It is a proven fact, another thing is that the UN has not studied these materials yet. As a matter of fact, a discussion has been being held lately. The Americans said that chemical weapons were used by government forces. Russia was sure that it is done by the rebels. Finally, Russia received confirmation that this weapon is used by the opposition," Kalinina said.

"Vestnik Kavkaza" interviewed experts on the subject and asked them whether chemical weapons are used in Syria, and how it can affect the course of the war.

Senior Research Fellow of the Institute of International Studies, MGIMO, Leonid Gusev, said that it's hard to say whether chemical weapons are used in Syria, "because it is very difficult to conduct the necessary research in Syria because of the ongoing military operations. And the most interesting thing is that the government and the opposition forces accuse each other, and all this is done mostly for the sake of dramatic effect," the expert said.

The head of the Analytical Department of the Institute of Political and Military Analysis, Alexander Khramchikhin, noted that in fact all the current speculations and mutual accusations are only part of the information war waged both by Assad and the opposition. "The use of chemical weapons has been debated for months, but so far no intervention followed, but if any third party wanted to intervene, they would have done so a long time ago without any chemical weapons, as there are reasonable grounds for it without chemical weapons," the expert said.