For the first time, he bears an explicit accusation.. An international report identifies the person responsible for the chlorine chemical attack on the Syrian Douma

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said on Friday that a nearly two-year investigation concluded that at least one Syrian military helicopter dropped chlorine gas cylinders on residential buildings in the rebel-held Syrian city of Douma in 2018, killing 43 people.

The April 7, 2018 attack on the outskirts of Damascus was part of a major military offensive that brought the area back under the control of the Syrian government forces after a long Russian-backed siege on the opposition stronghold.

In March 2019, a previous investigation conducted by the organization had already concluded that a chemical attack had occurred in Douma, but this investigation was not authorized to bring charges.

The member states of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in The Hague, formed the investigation and determination of responsibility team in November 2018 to determine the perpetrators of chemical attacks in Syria, after Russia vetoed the formation of a joint mission of the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

The Syrian regime denies using chemical weapons, but a previous joint investigation by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Arms found that the regime's government used nerve gas (sarin) in an attack in April 2017 and repeatedly used chlorine gas as a weapon, accusing the Islamic State of using mustard gas.

The latest investigation indicated that four people in one unit of the Syrian regime forces were responsible, but their names were not announced.

The organization said the findings were based on a technical analysis of about 70 biological and environmental samples, satellite imagery, 66 interviews with witnesses, and ballistic missile and ammunition tests.

"At least one helicopter belonging to the Syrian Special Forces unit known as the Tiger dropped two cylinders containing toxic chlorine gas on two residential buildings in a populated civilian area in Douma, killing 43 people and damaging dozens of others," a summary of the report reads.

The Tiger Unit is a force classified as one of the elite forces of the Syrian regime, which are generally used in offensive operations in the war.

"The world now knows the facts. It is up to the international community to take action, within the OPCW and beyond," said OPCW Director General Ambassador Fernando Arias.

The findings follow an investigation conducted between January 2021 and December 2022. The findings, the organization said, were "reached on the basis of reasonable grounds, which is the standard of evidence consistently pursued by international fact-finding bodies and commissions of inquiry."

The Syrian regime and its military ally, Russia, strongly oppose the work of the investigation and determination team, saying it is illegal.

Damascus and Moscow did not cooperate with those responsible for the latest investigation.

Both countries denied using banned toxic munitions and said the attack in Douma was planned.

The use of chlorine as a weapon is prohibited under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Syria ratified in 2013.

A chemical weapons attack in Douma prompted the United States, Britain and France to launch missile strikes on Syrian government targets a week later, in the largest Western military action against Damascus during the war that began in 2011.