![FILE - In this undated file photo from World War I, German Red Cross members carry bottles of liquid to revive those who have succumbed to gas bombs during battle. A century after German troops opened the taps on a line of chlorine tanks to send a poisonous cloud drifting across no man's land and into World War I Allied trenches, chemical warfare has come full circle. A report last year set up by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said a toxic chemical, almost certainly chlorine, was used repeatedly in attacks on villages in Northern Syria. (AP Photo, File)](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/5WFPGQXQBJAY754N3EJ4NYP2Q4.jpg?smart=true&auth=dc96fa2714ebdbe0418a2c6356317e9a6aa472ddcca5bda478c7b2531f266d1e&width=400&height=225)
German Red Cross members treat victims of a gas attack during the First World War. AP Photo
German Red Cross members treat victims of a gas attack during the First World War. AP Photo
Assad and the reawakening of a Great War curse
The First World War was scarred by the deployment of mustard gas. Damien McElroy traces the history of chemical weapons from the Somme to Syria
Damien McElroy
01 November, 2018