Images have circulated of the devastation caused by the suspected chemical attack, drawing further criticism of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad from the international stage, including from the U.N and the Trump administration.
Intel from both America and Russia has drawn conclusions that the Syrian government lead the attack on its own people.
This was echoed by the The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights who claimed that a chemical attack was carried out by warplanes belonging to the Syrian military, using the chemical nerve-agent sarin.
So what is sarin? For starters it’s a colourless, odourless liquid with an extreme potency as a nerve agent. It’s also considered a weapon of mass destruction.
Sarin is an organophosphorus compound first discovered by German scientist Gerhard Schrader in 1937. Its intended use was as an insecticide, however, it was later developed into the deadly nerve gas due to it’s devastating impact on the body.
Moments after being exposed to the chemical, it restricts your use of smooth muscles – the involuntary tissue that makes sure organs like the; stomach, intestines and bladder work effectively – therefore creating uncontrollable secretions.
Your eyes begin to tear-up uncontrollably, you start to spew saliva, vomit, plus you lose control of your bowel and bladder.
Furthermore, your vision begins to blur and your respiratory system (breathing) becomes restricted causing tight chest pains.
To put that into context that’s 10 minutes of a total body shutdown, where it’s hard to breathe, or think. All you’ll feel is intense pain and suffering.
Sarin is so devastating that even the Nazis opted out of utilising it in World War II for fears of retaliation – when one of history’s most evil regime’s refuses to use a weapon you know that it’s serious.
That same year, as war between Iraq and Iran drew to a close, sarin was used on four different occasions against Iranian Soldiers.
1994 saw a cult religious group called Aum Shinrykio release an impure form of sarin in Matsumoto, Nagano. The attack left eight people dead and 200 injured. This was followed by an attack on a Tokyo underground train station a year later which killed up to twelve people.
Dr Shajul Islam, who was trained in the UK, is currently providing treatment in northern Syria. He tweeted about some of the horrendous things he’s witnessed following the reported chemical attacks.
Whether we believe these attacks are being carried out by the Syrian government, Russian warplanes, a combination of both or another ‘outside’ influence is past the point of relevancy right now.
There are innocent men, women and children caught up in the bloody conflict going on in Syria, the UN needs to step in and save those who are innocent collateral.
Then, and only then, can we start to ask: ‘Who is responsible for this?’.
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