(Foreign Policy) John Hudson - Sarin is an odorless, colorless gas that's 500 times more toxic than cyanide and deadly in doses of 0.5 milligrams and larger. Besides potentially killing you within 10 minutes of inhalation, the gas can cause paralysis. Syria has the largest stockpile of chemical weapons in the Middle East and the fourth-largest stockpile in the world. "By the mid-1990s it was estimated that Syria had developed between 100 and 200 warheads filled with sarin for its Scud-B and Scud-C missiles, and thousands of chemical bombs filled with the nerve agents VX and sarin," said Dina Esfandiary of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. "Presumably, these numbers will be higher today." "Nerve agents are effective in open spaces (battlefields)...and as a terror weapon," said James Lewis of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. "Strategically, they are not particularly useful in urban warfare." Esfandiary adds, "Sarin in particular is very volatile (evaporates easily), which means it presents an immediate but short-lived threat."
2013-04-26 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive