On 7 April this year, a suspected chemical attack on the Syrian town of Douma was reported to have killed at least 40 people and injured up to 500, including women and children. Syria had made its chemical weapons capability known to the world six years earlier, with a public declaration of its intention to use them against any foreign assault. Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq waged chemical warfare against Iran and its own civilian Kurdish population, including the notorious 1988 attack on Halabja that killed 5000 Kurds.