12 Years On: Documentation Confirms 1,400 Civilians Killed in Eastern Ghouta Chemical Attacks

ARK News.. Human rights reports have confirmed that around 1,400 civilians were killed in chemical weapons attacks carried out under the former regime in Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday that “on the morning of August 21, 2013, one of the most heinous crimes in modern history was committed, when civilians were bombarded with chemical weapons amid international silence.”

Marking the 12th anniversary of the massacre, the Observatory stressed that the attack claimed the lives of nearly 1,400 innocent civilians, including women and children, and noted that justice has yet to be served despite the magnitude of the atrocity.

According to the Observatory, international reports confirmed that the chemical agents used—most notably Sarin gas—were part of Syria’s stockpiles prior to the 2013 Chemical Weapons Convention disarmament deal.

Rights networks documented 1,144 deaths by asphyxiation, including 1,119 civilians (99 children and 194 women), and 25 opposition fighters. An additional 5,935 people suffered respiratory distress and related complications.

In April 2025, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) revealed the existence of more than 100 suspected sites containing chemical weapons that remain in Syria after the fall of the Assad regime, some hidden in caves or hard-to-access locations.

In June 2025, French prosecutors called for upholding an arrest warrant issued against former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, accused of complicity in crimes against humanity for his role in the banned chemical attacks carried out in the Damascus countryside in the summer of 2013. See also: Rights group documents disappearance of 6,675 Palestinians in Assad regime prisons

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