Damascus: Survivors and families of victims from the 2013 chemical massacre in Eastern and Western Ghouta, Damascus, are still grappling with severe health, psychological, and social repercussions. The Syrian Network for Human Rights has highlighted these ongoing hardships, emphasizing the chronic conditions and psychological disorders that persist, as well as the loss of family breadwinners and the aftermath of forced displacement.
According to Anadolu Agency, the Assad regime executed a major chemical attack in Eastern Ghouta and Moadamiyet al-Sham on August 21, 2013. This attack resulted in the deaths of more than 1,400 civilians, including many children and women, and left over 10,000 injured. The assault involved four simultaneous chemical strikes on densely populated civilian areas, including Moadamiyet al-Sham, utilizing at least 10 rockets loaded with approximately 200 liters of sarin gas.
The attack occurred under a suffocating siege by the former regime, which severely restricted residents' access to essential medical and humanitarian supplies. After surviving this chemical onslaught, civilians endured years of siege and harsh conditions before being displaced in 2018 to camps in Idlib province. Following the Assad regime's fall in late 2024, displaced residents began returning to Eastern Ghouta.
After the massacre, the Syrian regime joined the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on September 13, 2013, and the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2118 regarding Syria's chemical weapons. The OPCW, in collaboration with the UN, conducted a joint inspection mission, announcing the end of its mission in Syria on August 19, 2014, with the destruction of the regime's declared chemical weapons stockpile. However, it later emerged that this destruction was limited to declared sites, as Assad's forces continued to carry out chemical attacks in other areas.
On April 21, 2021, OPCW member states decided to suspend some of Syria's membership rights after confirming chemical weapon use in Latamneh in March 2017 and Saraqib in February 2018. In November 2025, Syria reactivated its permanent mission to the OPCW in The Hague, appointing Mohammed Katoub as its permanent representative. The revolution led by Ahmad al-Sharaa eventually toppled Bashar Assad's regime on December 8, 2024, concluding his rule from 2000 to 2024.