Soldier – August 2019

46 AUGUST 2019 http://www.soldiermagazine.co.uk

THE NERVE OF IT...

CBRN attacks since the

First World War are not as

rare as you might think

2018

Bashar al-Assad

allegedly uses

chlorine on the rebel-

held city of Allepo in

Syria.

2018

Russian military

offi cer turned

British spy Sergei

Skripal and his

daughter Yulia found

unconscious, victims

of Novichok, a nerve

agent that is 1,000

times more toxic

than Sarin. Dawn

Sturgess later dies

from exposure to it in

Amesbury, just a few

miles from Salisbury.

2012

Bashar al-Assad’s

campaign of

chemical warfare

against Syrian

rebels around the

country is reported

to have begun

with an attack on

Homs with Agent

15, an odourless

chemical agent

that incapacitates

through seizures.

He has employed

Sarin, mustard gas

and chlorine in

consequent attacks

around the country.

1937

During their invasion

of China, Japanese

forces reportedly

attack with mustard

gas and a blistering

agent called Lewisite,

as well as anthrax

and plague.

1939–1945

Toxic compounds

such as hydrogen

cyanide-based

Zyklon B are used in

Nazi concentration

camps to kill millions

of civilians.

1983-1988

Iraq uses chemical

weapons, including

Tabun and mustard

gas against Iran

and Iraq’s Kurdish

minority.

1963–1967

Egypt allegedly uses

mustard gas and a

nerve agent in Yemen

to support a coup

d’état against the

country’s monarchy.

1961–1971

The United States

uses Napalm and

the herbicide Agent

Orange during

the Vietnam War,

sparking national

and international

protest.

2018

Intelligence agencies

in Australia intercept

a Daesh plot that

allegedly involved

plans to release

a toxic hydrogen

sulphide gas.

2001

Members of US

Congress and

American media

receive letters

containing anthrax

spores. Five people

are killed.

2017

A nerve agent

called VX is used

to assassinate Kim

Jong-nam, exiled

half-brother of

the North Korean

dictator Kim Jong-

un, at Kuala Lumpur

airport.

1935–1936

Italian dictator Benito

Mussolini drops

mustard gas bombs

in Ethiopia to destroy

Emperor Haile

Selassie’s army.

Picture: Cpl Pete Brown, RLC

42-46-sol-aug CBRN.indd 5 25/07/2019 17:08