In August 2013, a chemical attack using sarin gas was perpetrated in Syria’s Ghouta region, northeast of Damascus, killing some 1,400 people. Attributed to the regime of Bashar al-Assad, the crime remains unpunished to this day. But Syrian refugees in Europe are fighting for justice. Activists, lawyers and witnesses have set out to track down those responsible, some of whom live in France. Yet many obstacles remain: the few witnesses living in exile fear reprisals on their families who have stayed behind, while there is no access to Assad's Syria, making it impossible to carry out investigations on the ground. FRANCE 24's Dana Alboz brings us this exclusive 27-minute documentary. Warning: viewers may find some images upsetting.
On August 21, 2013, the Eastern Ghouta region, northeast of the Syrian capital Damascus, was targeted by missiles containing sarin, a fatal nerve gas. NGOs and medical teams on the ground put the death toll from the attack at around 1,400 people – more than half of them women and children. According to the NGOs, the attack was far from isolated: a total of 222 chemical attacks are thought to have been carried out in Syria.
