A Bad Old Thing that’s shown up again:

Syria crisis: Chlorine gas used in attacks, says OPCW

Chlorine gas was used in attacks in northern Syria this year, says the international body seeking to implement global laws banning chemical weapons.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said it had found “compelling confirmation” of the use of chlorine, in pure or mixed form.

The attacks took place earlier this year in villages where rebels have been fighting government forces.

The OPCW has been overseeing efforts to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons.

Over the past year, Syria’s declared stockpile of banned munitions was shipped out of the country and destroyed, under the terms of an international agreement.

However, Syria was not obliged to declare any stockpiles of chlorine, regarded as a weak toxic agent.

Chlorine gas was first used as a weapon of war by the German army at the battle of Second Ypres in 1915 (thanks, Kaiser Wilhelm!). And now it sees that Bashar Assad is commemorating the war that gave birth to the modern borders of Syria in his own horrible fashion.