| rdfs:comment | - The Ghouta chemical attack occurred on 21 August 2013 during the Syrian civil war, when several opposition-controlled or disputed areas of the Ghouta suburbs of the Markaz Rif Dimashq district around Damascus, Syria, were struck by rockets containing the chemical agent sarin. Hundreds were killed in the attack, which took place over a short span of time in the early morning. Estimates of the death toll range from 281 to 1,729 fatalities, not less than 51 of whom were rebel fighters. Many witnesses reported that none of the victims they saw displayed physical wounds, and videos purporting to show victims of the chemical attack were widely disseminated on YouTube and other websites. Even if only the lower number for the death toll is confirmed, the incident would be the deadliest use of chem
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| Caption | - Map of the August 2013 Ghouta chemical attack Affected neighbourhoods: Hammuriyah, Irbin, Saqba, Kafr Batna, Mudamiyah, Harasta, Zamalka, Ain Terma, Jobar.
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| abstract | - The Ghouta chemical attack occurred on 21 August 2013 during the Syrian civil war, when several opposition-controlled or disputed areas of the Ghouta suburbs of the Markaz Rif Dimashq district around Damascus, Syria, were struck by rockets containing the chemical agent sarin. Hundreds were killed in the attack, which took place over a short span of time in the early morning. Estimates of the death toll range from 281 to 1,729 fatalities, not less than 51 of whom were rebel fighters. Many witnesses reported that none of the victims they saw displayed physical wounds, and videos purporting to show victims of the chemical attack were widely disseminated on YouTube and other websites. Even if only the lower number for the death toll is confirmed, the incident would be the deadliest use of chemical weapons since the Iran–Iraq War. The United Nations investigated several attack sites, which were mere kilometres from the temporary quarters of UN inspectors who had arrived at the Syrian government's invitation to look into alleged chemical weapons use prior to the Ghouta attack. The UN requested access to sites in Ghouta the day after the attack. On 23 August, government and rebel forces clashed in Ghouta, the Syrian military continued to shell Ghouta, and the UN called for a ceasefire to allow inspectors to visit the Ghouta sites. The Syrian government granted the UN's request on 25 August. Inspectors worked from 26 to 31 August investigating sites of the attack. After completing the investigation three weeks later, the UN reported that it had confirmed the use of sarin in the Ghouta attack. The Mission "collected clear and convincing evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent sarin were used in the Ein Tarma, Moadamiyah and Zalmalka in the Ghouta area of Damascus." The report's lead author, Åke Sellström, said that the quality of the sarin used in the attack was higher than that used by Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war, implying a purity higher than the Iraqi chemical weapons program's 45–60%. Based on analyses of the UN's evidence, Human Rights Watch and The New York Times concluded the rockets that delivered the sarin were launched from areas under government control. Specifically, the inspectors listed the precise compass directions of flight for two rocket strikes and these pointed to the government's elite centre in Damascus, Mount Qasioun, The Syrian government called reports of a massacre untrue and the Syrian government and opposition blamed each other for the attack. Many governments, mostly in the Western and Arab worlds, said the available evidence showed the attack was carried out by the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a conclusion echoed by the Arab League and the European Union. The government of Russia sided with the government's characterisation of the attack as a false flag operation by terrorists to draw foreign powers into the civil war on the rebels' side. The attack sparked debate in France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and other countries about whether to intervene militarily against government forces. In September 2013, the Syrian government declared its intention to join the Chemical Weapons Convention.
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