The Ghouta suburb of Damascus was struck with rockets containing the chemical agent Sarin in August 2013, killing at least 1,400 people. The attack has been attributed to the Assad regime acting in cooperation with Russia.
The US State Department on Monday designated Brigadier General Adnan Aboud Hilweh, Major General Ghassan Ahmed Ghannam, and Major General Jawdat Saleebi Mawas, whom it accused of being party to “gross violations of human rights, namely the flagrant denial of the right to life of at least 1,400 people in Ghouta.”
The designation deems the officials and their immediate families ineligible for entry into the US.
The statement called on Assad’s regime to “fully declare and destroy its chemical weapons program,” and allow for immediate access for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), in accordance with its obligation to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) which Syria is a signatory of.
The Assad regime continues to deny its use of chemical weapons, citing “falsifying truths” and insisting that it handed over its weapons stockpiles under a 2013 agreement with the US and Russia, which was prompted by the Ghouta attack.
