Join FAS Chemical Weapons Program Egypt was the first country in the Middle East to obtain chemical weapons training, indoctrination, and mat riel. Egyptian interest in chemical weapons may have been prompted by Israel's construction of the Dimona nuclear reactor in 1958.
Chemical weapons are part of the Egyptian army's standard issue.
While the size of its arsenal is not known, some estimates suggest that it may be similar to that of Iraq prior to the Gulf War. During the Yemen War of 1963 through 1967, Egypt evidently used mustard bombs in support of South Yemen against royalist troops in North Yemen. The use of chemical weapons against the Yemeni tribesmen was the first use of chemical weapons in the Middle East. During the Yemeni civil war phosgene and mustard aerial bombs killed at least 1,400 people. Some reports claim that Egypt also used an organophosphate nerve agent against Yemeni Royalist forces.