Syria arrests former Assad-era official in charge of sarin stockpiles

Syrian authorities have arrested a former official responsible for sarin gas stockpiles and chemical weapons production under the regime of ousted President Bashar al-Assad, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday.

The ministry identified the suspect as Col. Ahmad Habib Ali, a chemical weapons specialist from the town of Harf al-Musaytirah in the Al-Qardaha countryside of western Latakia province.

It said security units in Latakia carried out a special operation that led to his arrest.

According to the ministry, Ali formerly headed a center affiliated with the Scientific Studies and Research Center and was responsible for sarin gas warehouses and chemical manufacturing at Unit 417.

Preliminary investigations indicated that he was among the officers who supervised the production of about 20 bombs loaded with sarin gas, each weighing 250 kilograms, the ministry said.

The bombs were used in attacks targeting Syrian cities and towns in 2013 and 2017, it added.

The ministry said investigations were continuing to identify and document all crimes attributed to the suspect before referring him to the relevant judicial authorities.

Sarin gas was used in one of the deadliest chemical attacks of the Syrian uprising, when the Assad regime launched strikes on Eastern Ghouta and Moadamiyat al-Sham on Aug. 21, 2013.

The attack killed more than 1,400 civilians, including hundreds of women and children, and injured more than 10,000 others.

Following the attack, Syria joined the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on Sept. 13, 2013, and the UN Security Council later that month adopted Resolution 2118 on the destruction of the country's chemical weapons program.

The OPCW and the UN subsequently established a joint mission that declared the destruction of Syria's declared chemical weapons stockpile in August 2014.

However, it later became clear that the destruction was limited to sites declared by the Assad regime, as its forces subsequently carried out numerous chemical attacks using chlorine and sarin gas in several cities, most notably Aleppo in northern Syria.

In April 2021, OPCW member states voted to suspend some of Syria’s rights and privileges after the organization concluded that Syrian government forces had used chemical weapons in attacks on the town of Ltamenah in Hama province in March 2017 and the city of Saraqib in Idlib province in February 2018.

The arrest came days after the OPCW Executive Council adopted a decision restoring Syria’s rights and privileges under the Chemical Weapons Convention.

In November 2025, Syria reactivated its permanent mission to the OPCW in The Hague and appointed Mohammad Katoub as its permanent representative.