Syria arrests ex-officer accused of overseeing sarin gas bombs

Syrian authorities have arrested a former colonel accused of being a chemical weapons specialist responsible for sarin gas depots and manufacturing under the ousted regime of Bashar al-Assad. The arrest of Ahmed Habib Ali was announced Wednesday by the Interior Ministry, which described him as a “chemical weapons expert” who oversaw the production of about 20 sarin-laden bombs used in attacks in 2013 and 2017 Source: cnaSource: aljazeera.

The arrest and charges

Ali is alleged to have been in charge of storage and manufacturing within Unit 417, a key chemical weapons facility near Damascus. Each bomb weighed 250kg, and the deadliest attack, in August 2013, killed more than 1,400 people, according to US intelligence and rights groups Source: cna. The Assad government at the time agreed to surrender its chemical arsenal to avert US strikes, but was later accused of further sarin and chlorine attacks between 2014 and 2017.

Wider context

The detention comes just a week after Syria was reinstated into the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which had stripped Syria of its voting rights in 2021 after finding its air force used chemical weapons Source: aljazeera. Since Assad's fall in December 2024, authorities have arrested dozens of former officials. In April, Syria's judiciary began public trials for former officials on charges including war crimes linked to the 2011 uprising and its violent suppression Source: cna.