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Few thought that the Syrian regime’s promise to destroy its chemical weapons would be the end of the story. Brigadier-General Zaher al-Saket, a former chemical weapons chief in President Bashar al-Assad’s own army, certainly did not.
Brig Gen Saket says he was ordered three times to use chemical weapons against his own people, but could not. He insists that all such orders had to come from the top — President Assad himself — despite insistent denials by the regime that it has never used chemical weapons. He also claims to have his own intelligence that the Syrian president is evading the terms of a Russian-brokered deal to destroy the chemical weapons by transferring some of the stocks to his allies; Hezbollah, in Lebanon, and Iran.
I saved hundreds of lives of children and others
Brig Gen Saket spoke to The Sunday Telegraph, his first interview with a Western newspaper, as Mr Assad confirmed for the first time what he, and much of the rest of the world already knew, that the regime has a huge arsenal of chemical weapons, and the delivery systems to go with them.
It was an extraordinary and unexpected outcome of the wrangling between the U.S. and Russia which followed the attack on a Damascus suburb a month ago.
Brig Gen Saket’s personal history gives new insight into the extent to which, it is said, the Assad regime gradually turned to the use of chemical weapons, after rebels encroached on Damascus and Aleppo, the country’s two biggest cities, in the summer of last year.
As chief scientific officer in the army’s fifth division, he ran chemical weapons operations in the country’s southern Deraa province, where the uprising began in March 2011. Brig Gen Saket said the regime wanted to “annihilate” the opposition using any means, and said he received his first orders to use chemical weapons in October last year. On three occasions, he said, he was told to use a mixture of phosgene and two other chlorine-based agents against civilian targets in Sheikh Masqeen, Herak, and Busra, all rebel-held districts.
However, he replaced the canisters containing the chemicals with ones containing water mixed with dilute bleach which would give off a similar chlorine smell, he said. “In this way I saved hundreds of lives of children and others.” After the third occasion, in January, his bosses became suspicious at the lack of deaths, and he fled to Jordan.
Brig Gen Saket believes chemical weapons have been used 34 times, rather than the 14 occasions cited by international intelligence agencies. But he agrees with a variety of assessments that differing substances and concentrations are used, which would account for the varying death rates, with some attacks killing very few, or none.
Brig Gen Saket says he was ordered three times to use chemical weapons against his own people, but could not. He insists that all such orders had to come from the top — President Assad himself — despite insistent denials by the regime that it has never used chemical weapons. He also claims to have his own intelligence that the Syrian president is evading the terms of a Russian-brokered deal to destroy the chemical weapons by transferring some of the stocks to his allies; Hezbollah, in Lebanon, and Iran.
I saved hundreds of lives of children and others
Brig Gen Saket spoke to The Sunday Telegraph, his first interview with a Western newspaper, as Mr Assad confirmed for the first time what he, and much of the rest of the world already knew, that the regime has a huge arsenal of chemical weapons, and the delivery systems to go with them.
It was an extraordinary and unexpected outcome of the wrangling between the U.S. and Russia which followed the attack on a Damascus suburb a month ago.
Brig Gen Saket’s personal history gives new insight into the extent to which, it is said, the Assad regime gradually turned to the use of chemical weapons, after rebels encroached on Damascus and Aleppo, the country’s two biggest cities, in the summer of last year.
As chief scientific officer in the army’s fifth division, he ran chemical weapons operations in the country’s southern Deraa province, where the uprising began in March 2011. Brig Gen Saket said the regime wanted to “annihilate” the opposition using any means, and said he received his first orders to use chemical weapons in October last year. On three occasions, he said, he was told to use a mixture of phosgene and two other chlorine-based agents against civilian targets in Sheikh Masqeen, Herak, and Busra, all rebel-held districts.
However, he replaced the canisters containing the chemicals with ones containing water mixed with dilute bleach which would give off a similar chlorine smell, he said. “In this way I saved hundreds of lives of children and others.” After the third occasion, in January, his bosses became suspicious at the lack of deaths, and he fled to Jordan.
Brig Gen Saket believes chemical weapons have been used 34 times, rather than the 14 occasions cited by international intelligence agencies. But he agrees with a variety of assessments that differing substances and concentrations are used, which would account for the varying death rates, with some attacks killing very few, or none.
