Syria's Sharaa vows accountability after meeting Ghouta chemical attack survivors

Syria's President Ahmad al-Sharaa met with the survivors of the 2013 chemical attack in Eastern Ghouta on Saturday as the nation marked 12 years since the Assad regime carried out the largest chemical weapons attack in Syria.

Meeting with several survivors, Sharaa vowed accountability and justice for the massacre that killed 1,119 civilians, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR).

"These crimes will remain a witness to the suffering of the Syrians and their determination to attain freedom and dignity," Sharaa said during the meeting, quoted by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

"Bringing perpetrators to accountability and achieving justice is a right that does not expire with the passage of time."

Mosques across Syria's capital, Damascus, and the surrounding Rif Dimashq province on Thursday broadcast chants of "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) to mark the anniversary of the attack and honour the memory of the victims.

This was the first time Syrians were able to commemorate the anniversary following the fall of the Assad regime in December.

Civilians also rallied in Syrian cities, raising photos of the victims and calling for accountability.

Bashar al-Assad's forces in August 2013 carried out a coordinated attack against Syrian civilians using missiles filled with Sarin gas in an attempt to regain control of the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta area and to punish civilians who had supported the opposition.

SNHR revealed that nearly 80 percent of the victims had died, including 99 children and 194 women.

The attack sparked international condemnation and prompted Syria to join the Chemical Weapons Convention in October 2013 in an agreement backed by the US and Assad-ally Russia.

However, Assad continued with the attacks until at least 2018, most notably in Douma, where at least 49 people were killed.

Chemical attacks were a frequent method used by Assad to impose fear and control amongst civilians. The SNHR documented 217 chemical attacks carried out by the regime from the first time it was used on 23 December 2012 till the regime fell, where 1,413 civilians were killed.

Syria's overthrow of Assad in December 2024 has prompted discussions on ridding the nation of chemical weapons left by the Assad regime, where over 100 suspected chemical weapons are believed to remain in the country.

Sharaa welcomed a delegation of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in February.

At the same time, Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani pledged to destroy any remnants of the chemical weaponry from the Assad era.