Assad Regime Used Chemical Weapons In Saraqib: Global Watchdog Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons finds ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe chemical weapons used in Syria in 2018. The Assad regime used chemical weapons against its population in Saraqib, Syria in 2018, a global watchdog said on Monday. The report by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was prepared by the Investigation and Identification Team (IIT), whose first report on the use of chemical weapons was published in April 2020. "The report reached the conclusion that there are reasonable grounds to believe that, at approximately 21: 22 on 4 February 2018, a military helicopter of the Syrian Arab Air Force under the control of the Tiger Forces hit eastern Saraqib by dropping at least one cylinder," the intergovernmental organization said in a press release.