US blacklists Syrian military officials over 2013 chemical attack
Three Syrian military officers were designated for their alleged participation in the August 2013 sarin gas attack on Ghouta.
The United States on Monday imposed visa bans on three Syrian military officials accused of involvement in a near-decade-old chemical weapons attack blamed on the regime.
On Aug. 21, 2013, the Syrian armed forces launched rockets containing the nerve agent sarin on the besieged Damascus suburb of Ghouta. Disturbing images of victims foaming at the mouth and choking to death emerged from the attack, which a US government assessment found killed more than 1,400 people, including at least 426 children.
The State Department on Monday designated three officials it said were involved in the attack: Brig. Gen. Adnan Aboud Hilweh, Maj. Gen. Ghassan Ahmed Ghannam and Maj. Gen. Jawdat Saleebi Mawas.
“Of the atrocities committed by the Assad regime, some of which rise to the level of war crimes and crimes against humanity, few are as inhumane and abhorrent as the repeated use of chemical weapons against civilians,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
