Damascus, Aug. 6 (SANA)Nidal Shikhani, the director general of the Chemical Violations Documentation Center of Syria (CVDCS),said those responsible for chemical attacks inSyria, particularly the attack on the city ofDouma, must continue to be pursued through national and international legal processes to ensure justice for victims.

Speaking to Syria’s Al-Ikhbariya TV on Wednesday, Shikhani said accountability efforts should be accompanied by medical, psychological and social support for survivors and others affected by the attacks.

He said commemorating the Douma chemical attack helps preserve Syrians’ collective memory and prevents the crimes from being forgotten, noting that their long-term health, psychological and social consequences continue to affect local communities’ sense of security and stability.

Shikhani said the center documents chemical weapons violations by collecting evidence, verifying witness testimonies and assessing them in accordance with international standards to support the work of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and other international investigative mechanisms tasked with establishing responsibility for the use ofchemical weapons.

He said case files are submitted to relevant international bodies while Syria’s justice and interior ministries continue efforts to investigate those involved and identify officials who ordered and carried out chemical weapons attacks.

Shikhani said many survivors continue to suffer long-term physical and psychological effects, including permanent injuries, congenital abnormalities and neurological and psychological disorders. He called for the establishment of a specialized body to oversee survivors’ cases, provide medical and psychological care, and ensure they receive appropriate compensation and redress.

He also highlighted the environmental and agricultural damage caused by chemical weapons, particularly soil contamination and damage to farmland, calling for long-term rehabilitation programs to restore affected areas.

Addressing the challenges facing accountability efforts, Shikhani said a number of key perpetrators had left Syria, making greater international judicial cooperation, extradition agreements and coordination with theInternational Criminal Police Organization(Interpol) essential to bringing those responsible to justice.

An OPCW Investigation and Identification Team (IIT) report published on Jan. 27, 2023, concluded that the deposed Syrian regime was directly responsible for carrying out the chemical attack on Douma on April 7, 2018, using chlorine gas. The attack killed 43 civilians, including 10 children and 15 women.

In its fifth report on chemical attacks in Syria, published on Jan. 22, 2026, the OPCW concluded that the deposed regime carried out a chlorine gas attack on the town of Kafr Zita in Hama countryside in 2016, injuring at least 35 people and affecting others.

On April 21, 2021, OPCW member states voted to suspend Syria’s rights and privileges within the organization, including its voting rights, after the OPCW concluded that the deposed regime had used chemical weapons in attacks on Ltamenah in Hama countryside in 2017 and Saraqib in Idlib countryside in February 2018.