Chemical weapons in Syria By AARON HOWARD | JHV• This is how the chemical nerve agent, sarin, works. Within seconds of exposure, the inhaled chemical begins to attack a person’s nervous system, causing the body’s neurotransmitters to short circuit. Tears pour from the eyes. Mucous streams from the nose. Drool runs from the mouth. Bladder and bowels evacuate by themselves. The chest tightens as if being squeezed by a python. That’s the feeling of your respiratory muscles becoming paralyzed. You stop breathing. You die if not given an antidote, like atropine, within 10 minutes of exposure. By the late 1980s, Syria had developed an extensive chemical weapons program. The purpose: to use against Israel “aggression.” The CIA and the Pentagon had intelligence on where many of these weapons were made and stored. On July 23, 2012, more than a year after the Syrian civil war began, the Syrian foreign minister officially confirmed his nation possessed chemical weapons.