--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: Syria’s Lurking Terror: A History of Sarin Gas image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56aeb1d80795ea0c/698a9da647ca3806993c4be7/redline_syria_1205.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) # Syria’s Lurking Terror: A History of Sarin Gas by [Ishaan Tharoor](/author/ishaan-tharoor/) May 7, 2013 7:04 PM CUT  In this Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012 photo, a man collects his belongings after his home was damaged due to heavy fighting between Free Syrian Army fighters and government forces in Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras) In this Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012 photo, a man collects his belongings after his home was damaged due to heavy fighting between Free Syrian Army fighters and government forces in Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)AP by [Ishaan Tharoor](/author/ishaan-tharoor/) May 7, 2013 7:04 PM CUT Reports of chemical-weapons attacks have [hovered like a cloud](http://world.time.com/2013/04/01/syrias-civil-war-the-mystery-behind-a-deadly-chemical-attack/ "undefined") over the bloody conflict in Syria for at least half a year, with both the Syrian opposition and the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad accusing the other of using poison gas in battle. After this weekend, international concern — and confusion — over the threat posed by chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war only deepened following a U.N. investigator’s [claim](http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-un-syria-rebels-chemical-weapons-20130506,0,7451300.story "undefined") that she had “strong, concrete suspicions” the Syrian rebels deployed [sarin](http://topics.time.com/sarin/ "undefined") gas in a recent attack. The U.N. itself, though, has [backed away](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/06/syria-us-no-evidence-rebels-sarin "undefined") from the allegation made by Carla del Ponte, and the Obama Administration says it’s “[highly skeptical](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/06/syria-us-no-evidence-rebels-sarin "undefined")” of any suggestion that Assad’s opponents, as opposed to the regime, would be responsible. With the actors and incidents shrouded in uncertainty, the focus then falls on the supposed floating menace itself: sarin gas, a lethal neurotoxin made illegal by the U.N.’s 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention, which allegedly exists in the [Assad regime’s stockpiles](http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/05/pentagon-assad-chemicals/ "undefined"). A German agricultural scientist in the employ of the Nazis invented the gas accidentally in 1938 when experimenting with new forms of pesticide, but it was never used during [World War II](http://topics.time.com/world-war-ii/ "undefined"). Just a small drop of the nerve agent, which turns quickly from liquid into gas, can be deadly; it is exponentially more dangerous than cyanide. My colleague Alexandra Sifferlin [details](http://healthland.time.com/2012/12/06/assads-chemical-weapons-what-does-sarin-do/#ixzz2SYHCCvR5 "undefined") its effects: --- > “” --- (**VIDEO:** [U.S. Ponders Syria’s Possible Chemical Weapons](http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,2330615240001%5F2142124,00.html "undefined")) Both the U.S. and the USSR maintained munitions equipped with sarin gas during the Cold War, though there’s no concrete evidence that these weapons were ever deployed. In March 1988, Iraqi bombers under orders from despot [Saddam Hussein](http://topics.time.com/saddam-hussein/ "undefined") dropped a cocktail of sarin and mustard gas on the largely Kurdish city of Halabja, in northern Iraq, which was then occupied by Iranian troops battling Baghdad. The strike, which killed at least 5,000 people and injured tens of thousands, is now considered an act of genocide. A [Human Rights Watch report](http://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/1991/IRAQ913.htm#6 "undefined") from 1991 relayed eyewitness testimony from Halabja: --- > “” --- (**MORE:** [Why Reports of Chemical-Weapons Attacks in Syria May Never Be Confirmed](http://world.time.com/2013/04/12/syrias-chemical-weapons-attack-still-waiting-for-the-truth/ "undefined")) But sarin gas truly grabbed global attention when in 1995, far from the sectarian war zones of the Middle East, it was released into the Tokyo subway system by an obscure spiritualist cult known as the Aum Shinrikyo. Thirteen people died from exposure, while hundreds more were injured. Here’s an excerpt from [TIME’s 1995 cover story](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,982760,00.html#ixzz2SYM4H9h4 "undefined") on the attack: --- > “” --- (**PHOTOS:** [Chaos and Killing in Syria: Photos of a Slow-Motion Civil War](http://world.time.com/2012/04/02/syrias-year-of-chaos-photos-of-a-slow-motion-civil-war/ "undefined")) Odorless and fast-acting, sarin’s seeming invisibility is what makes it so terrifying and perhaps underscores why President Obama was moved to describe the use of such chemical weapons as a “red line.” Still, the savagery of Syria’s two-year civil war, which has claimed more than 70,000 lives, ought to shock the outside world even without the specter of sarin gas. Just this weekend, activists reported the [daylong sectarian slaughter](http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/04/world/meast/syria-violence/?hpt=hp%5Ft2 "undefined") of over 100 civilians, including women and children, in a suburb of the coastal city of Baniyas, allegedly at the hands of regime-affiliated militia. **MORE:** [Syria’s Civil War: The Mystery Behind a Deadly Chemical Attack](http://world.time.com/2013/04/01/syrias-civil-war-the-mystery-behind-a-deadly-chemical-attack/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7182565/syrias-lurking-terror-a-history-of-sarin-gas-read-more/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7182565/syrias-lurking-terror-a-history-of-sarin-gas-read-more/"},"headline":"Syria’s Lurking Terror: A History of Sarin Gas","datePublished":"2013-05-07T19:04:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-18T07:02:32.116Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/archive/7182565/syrias-lurking-terror-a-history-of-sarin-gas-read-more/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56aeb1d80795ea0c/698a9da647ca3806993c4be7/redline_syria_1205.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ishaan Tharoor","url":"https://time.com/author/ishaan-tharoor/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56aeb1d80795ea0c/698a9da647ca3806993c4be7/redline_syria_1205.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Mideast Syria","caption":"Mideast Syria","creditText":"AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7182565/syrias-lurking-terror-a-history-of-sarin-gas-read-more/","name":"Syria’s Lurking Terror: A History of Sarin Gas"}}]}] ```