Former Syrian officer: ‘I was ordered to use sarin’

A Syrian officer has said he was ordered by the regime to use chemical agents against the rebels, but replaced the deadly sarin with liquid bleach before defecting. The descriptions further bolster Israeli and Western intelligence assessments that such weapons were used against the Syrian opposition and civilians.

“The regime used sarin gas on three occasions, and I am increasingly afraid that they will use agents more powerful than sarin. They have VX gas and mustard gas, also known as iprit,” Zaker al-Saket told al-Arabiya TV on Saturday, in an interview translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

Saket explained that President Bashar Assad’s army has “three types of chemical weapons: harassing chemical agents, incapacitating agents, and lethal agents.” While regime forces only used harassing agents such as tear gas at the start of the uprising, he said, they gravitated toward more deadly chemical weapons as the conflict progressed.

“The regime used incapacitating agents at first, but when the world remained silent about this, and the regime thought that the international community did not care, it used lethal [chemical] weapons in more than 13 locations. The last incident was in Utaybah,” he said.

Last week, Washington acknowledged that chemical weapons were used in Syria, confirming an earlier statement by the IDF’s top intelligence analyst Brig.-Gen. Itai Brun. Syrian forces “used lethal chemical weapons” against the opposition, Brun said at a Tel Aviv conference.

President Barack Obama had stated that the use of such weapons would be a “red line” that could not be ignored.

On Monday, former defense minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor) told Israel Radio that he, too, “has no doubt” Assad has already used chemical weapons.

Saket said the fact that Assad’s regime was pointing fingers at the opposition “is the most compelling proof that the regime itself has used” chemical weapons. The rebels don’t have the means — missiles, helicopters or artillery — needed to deliver such agents, he explained.

“The world must understand that there are binary chemical weapons in Syria, and [Bashar Assad] will use them against his people,” the general warned, reiterating that it was the lack of Western response to less-lethal agents that allowed the regime to use sarin.

“[Assad] has a complete arsenal of chemical weapons. Some came from the former USSR, and some are being manufactured right now,” Saket said. “Iranian experts are working with Syrian officers in the Mazzeh military airport,” helping to assemble missiles and other delivery means for chemical agents, he added.

“I was given an order to use these substances, but I replaced them with liquid bleach. This was the reason for my defection from Assad’s army,” the general said, claiming that, after substituting the bleach, he buried the original chemical weapons canisters so his commander wouldn’t find out and kill him.