Briefing

Chemical weapons 101: Six facts about sarin and Syria’s stockpile

Word from the White House that Syria probably resorted to small-scale use of chemical weapons on at least two occasions this year draws new attention to the internationally-banned nerve agent sarin – the weapon US intelligence officials now believe Syrian government forces used against rebel forces in the country’s civil war.

Perhaps the best-known recent use of sarin previously was in the 1995 Tokyo subway attack – known in Japan as the Subway Sarin Incident – in which members of a domestic cult-turned-terrorist group punctured bags of liquid sarin with sharpened umbrella tips in subway cars.

At least 13 people died in the attack and some 1,000 were injured.

But sarin’s legacy is about to get an update and henceforth seems likely to be associated with Syria and its besieged president, Bashar al-Assad.

- Howard LaFranchi, Staff writer

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Syria's President Bashar al-Assad (R) speaks to a worker during his visits the Umawyeen electricity station at Tishreen park on May Day in Damascus May 1, 2013, in this handout photograph distributed by Syria's national news agency SANA. (SANA/REUTERS)

1. What is sarin?

Sarin is a nerve agent first developed by German researchers in the late 1930s. Up to 500 times more toxic than cyanide, it is a colorless and odorless liquid that causes severe muscle spasms, vision loss, and asphyxia, and which can kill within a minute of contact in extreme cases.

Sarin was classified as a “weapon of mass destruction” and banned in the United Nations’ Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993. Syria is one of six countries that have not signed the convention.