Chemical weapons contain toxic substances designed to cause death or harm to their targets. They can spread dangerous chemicals including choking, blister and nerve agents, which can attack the body and cause death on a vast scale, indiscriminately and across a wide area if they are deployed inside a bomb or an artillery shell.
Their prohibition stems from a painful history.
The use of chemical agents including chlorine, phosgene and mustard gas was one of the horrors of World War I and was responsible for nearly 100,000 deaths, according to the United Nations. In response, the Geneva Protocol, which banned chemical weapons attacks, was drawn up and signed in 1925.
Nonetheless, as many as 25 countries worked to develop chemical weapons during the Cold War, according to the United Nations’ Office for Disarmament Affairs. Lengthy negotiations eventually led to the adoption of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which entered into force in 1997, requiring nations to destroy their stockpiles and prohibiting the development, production or use of chemical weapons.
There have, however, been limited occasions in which they have been used in combat — and those occasions have led to political fallout around the world.
Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein used a variety of chemical weapons against Iran during the 1980s, and their use in Syria over the past decade brought the threat of US intervention in that country’s civil war.
Instead, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) went into Syria to monitor the destruction of the country’s chemical weapons program.
Warnings to Russia
While Biden’s declaration may conjure memories of Obama’s ill-fated “red line” warning in 2013, the current US President has a united NATO on his side.
On Thursday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance would reinforce its chemical, biological and nuclear defense systems amid fears over Russia’s intentions.
In a joint statement Thursday, the leaders of the G7 warned Russia against the use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
“Any Russian use of chemical or biological weapons “would be a breach of all rules, all agreements and all existing conventions,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz added. “We can only say: Don’t do it!”