Connor Norton - Dozens killed in apparent chemical weapons attack on civilians in Syria, rescue workers say

This past week saw the use of chlorine gas by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on his own citizens in the rebel-held city of Douma, killing at least 40 and only adding to the trauma faced by Syrian citizens since the beginning of the civil war seven years ago. This marks yet another page in the darkest chapter of the conflict, however, due to the unrivaled and unwarranted fear and pain of chemical weapons such as chlorine, outlawed in the Geneva Protocols after WWI but still used by the Syrian government on rare occasions. This should all speak to the terror of weaponized chlorine, the inhalation of which having been described as "having a blowtorch pointed at your sinuses"; the aftermath of the attack saw bodies strewn across the streets and trapped in bomb shelters, foaming at the mouth or convulsing if not already lifeless, while disturbing video shows jaded young children being hosed down due to exposure and treated as they vacantly stare into the distance. This and other chemical attacks have been  widely decried by the international community, though Syria and its close ally Russia both claim all reports of chemical warfare are false or fabricated. Most of the victims were civilians.

This ties to the Holocaust as both saw the gassing or just conventional murder of innocent civilians due to association with an enemy of the government; the Jewish faith in Nazi Germany, and the rebels in Syria. Both were horrific events involving the painful and needless death of the undeserving and provoked massive outrage from the surrounding world, and both were deemed illegal by the global community. Nazi officers were persecuted as murderous war criminals; I wonder how Bashar al-Assad will fare.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/dozens-killed-in-apparent-chemical-weapons-attack-on-civilians-in-eastern-ghouta--rescue-workers/2018/04/08/231bba18-3ac0-11e8-af3c-2123715f78df_story.html?utm_term=.aeed9bdff69e