Syrians tell the gas attack on Assad while looking for justice

It was a hot summer night and without wind, just after 2 am, when a rocket dam struck the suburbs of Damascus from the east of Ghouta.

The explosions were small and looked like the rare, said the rescuers, but in a few minutes when they were going to check the bombs sites for the victims, they found people who suffocate, trembled and launched the mouth. You soon died en masse.

The attack on eastern Ghouta and Moadamiya, two suburbs held by the rebels of the Syrian capital, on August 21, 2013, was the deadliest episode of the 13 -year civil war in Syria. At least 1,500 people died, the rescuers and those who dug the bass said in interviews. Men, women and children were stifled while they slept under windows opened by a silent and odorless killer: sarin gas, a nervous agent.

President Barack Obama had warned Syria that if he used chemical weapons like Sarin, which is prohibited in international conventions, he would cross a “red line”. But when the attacks took place, no military or judicial measure has been taken. Neither President Bashar al-Assad nor his loyalists were held responsible.

Today, Mr. Al-Assad, who took refuge in Russia since he was overthrown by a rebellious offensive in December, faces accusations of war crimes for the attack in a case prepared in France, just like 22 of his associates. However, protected by the Russian government, it is unlikely to deal with justice.

Investigators and key witnesses underline the attacks of Sarin, among others during the war, as a signature of the cruelty of the government of Mr. Al-Assad and his despair of clinging to power.