(NCRC) that announced that it was Syrian government troops that conducted the attack with the use of chemical weapons, in which 80 people were killed and 200 were wounded. The UN supported their point of view, but there is no concrete proof and neither sources mentioned above are rally reliable.Furthermore, chemical weapons have been a recurring footnote in the bloody narrative of Syria's civil war. Uri Avnery: CUI BONO? - Gush Shalom Abby Martin in 2013, on Syria E em 2016In 2016, Russia's Defence Ministry reported on the use of chemical weapons by anti-government forces against civilians and Syrian soldiers in Aleppo's 1070 district. In vain.2013 John Singer painting, 1918, GassedSpeaking of gases, there are four gases produced by the usual suspects that are used as dirty chemical weapons.The one used in Syria is the chlorine.Chlorine, the 17th element in the periodic table, is an industrially important chemical. Among other applications it is used in the dying industry and forms the basis for many household bleaches. But chlorine is perhaps most well known as an addition to swimming pools where, in small quantities, it reacts with the water to form hypochlorous acid that kills bacteria and prevents the growth of algae, resulting in safe, sanitary conditions for swimming.Kelsey Davenport, the director nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association, a non-profit organisation that promotes public understanding of arms control policies in Washington, DC, spoke about the problematic nature of containing chlorine as a chemical weapon: "Chlorine is particularly a problem because it has so many uses for industrial purposes that don't have anything to do with weaponisation. It can be very easy for organisations to get their hands on chlorine and the necessary ingredients to create chlorine gas, using sort of other mechanisms or justifications for industrial purposes. That makes it much more difficult to control and much more difficult to prevent groups from using."Chlorine is a choking agent. Its greenish-yellow clouds of gas cause shortness of breath, wheezing, respiratory failure, irritation in the eyes, vomiting, and sometimes death.Chlorine's effects are also largely psychological: the chemical triggers fear, shock, and panic in a way that other conventional weapons don't. In the case of Aleppo, Solvang suspects the regime strategically used chlorine to force a mass exodus of the city.Chlorine has a dark history in conflicts stretching back to the first world war. Its use at Ypres on 22 April 1915 marked a new era in chemical warfare. The possible threat of gas attacks had resulted in a treaty signed in 1899 prohibiting their use. The treaty did not stop the French from launching shells containing a primitive tear gas on German lines in 1914 but their aim had been disruption. The development of chlorine gas attacks were designed to kill. To avoid breaching the words of the treaty, though not the spirit, the pioneer of chemical warfare, Fritz Haber, planned the release of the gas from canisters no projectiles would be involved.Canisters of chlorine were amassed along a fifteen mile stretch of German lines. The plan proceeded exactly as Haber had predicted. One