In 2012 Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime confirmed for the first time its possession of a chemical weapons arsenal. Syria threatened to deploy chemical weapons against foreign aggressors but stressed that it would never use them on civilians. Since 2012, however, numerous multinational investigations have uncovered Syrian chemical weapons attacks that number in “the low dozens” and have targeted Syrian civilians. The deadliest occurred in 2013 in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta. The Syrian government strongly denies having used any chemical weapons.