Jobar
Jobar () also Jawbar, Jober or Joubar, is a village on the outskirts of Damascus northeast of the old city walls. It contains the most venerated site for Syrian Jews, the 2,000-year-old Jobar Synagogue, named for the biblical prophet Elijah, a ...
,
Damascus
Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...
, Syria, in April 2013. A reporter and a photographer for the French newspaper ''
Le Monde
(; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...
'' spent two months in Jobar reporting on the attacks. However, the U.N. mission which investigated the attack could not find "sufficient or credible information" to support the allegation.
Syrian rebels
A number of states and armed groups have involved themselves in the Syrian civil war (2011–present) as belligerents. The main groups were Ba'athist Syria and allies, Syrian opposition, the Syrian opposition and allies, Al-Qaeda and affiliate ...
claimed the government used chemical weapons in Jobar in early April. ''Le Monde'' reported that gas attacks on the rebels occurred regularly in April and that
Free Syrian Army
The Free Syrian Army (FSA; ) is a Big tent, big-tent coalition of decentralized Syrian opposition (2011–2024), Syrian opposition rebel groups in the Syrian civil war founded on 29 July 2011 by Colonel Riad al-Asaad and six officers who defe ...
fighters carried gas masks and had syringes with doses of
atropine
Atropine is a tropane alkaloid and anticholinergic medication used to treat certain types of nerve agent and pesticide poisonings as well as some types of slow heart rate, and to decrease saliva production during surgery. It is typically give ...
, the antidote of
sarin
Sarin (NATO designation GB nerve_agent#G-series.html" ;"title="hort for nerve agent#G-series">G-series, "B" is an extremely toxic organophosphorus compound.Hammuriya interviewed by ''Le Monde'' said that earlier in the day he had given an attack victim 15 shots of
atropine
Atropine is a tropane alkaloid and anticholinergic medication used to treat certain types of nerve agent and pesticide poisonings as well as some types of slow heart rate, and to decrease saliva production during surgery. It is typically give ...
and some hydrocortisone. While Zanders replied that the treatment could have killed the patient.
''Le Monde'' reported "injured fighters were lying beside five medical workers who had been contaminated by contact with the affected men" and that the hospital's director lost consciousness after working alongside casualties for an hour. The newspaper also said that "according to a well-informed Western source, the Syrian authorities have gone so far as to use mixtures of chemicals, notably with the addition of tear gas, to make it harder to identify the source of the symptoms."
Investigations
In June 2013, the French government told the United Nations that it had evidence of a
sarin
Sarin (NATO designation GB nerve_agent#G-series.html" ;"title="hort for nerve agent#G-series">G-series, "B" is an extremely toxic organophosphorus compound. After the August 21st
Ghouta chemical attack
The Ghouta chemical attack was a chemical attack carried out by the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in the early hours of 21 August 2013 in Ghouta, Syria during the Syrian civil war. Two opposition-controlled areas in the subur ...
, French intelligence released a report that said samples from those attacks had confirmed the use of sarin. However, the U.N. fact-finding mission which investigated the alleged attack did not receive "sufficient or credible information" to support the allegation.