by t. Col. (res.) Dr. Dany Shoham
An open question still remains, then, as to whether other biotoxins, including cobra toxins and infectious biological warfare agents, are being methodically weaponized anywhere in Syria
Antivenom in Lebanon, Syria Scientific Studies
and Research Center, image via NIH
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 968, October 7, 2018
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The
full spectrum of toxic substances dealt with at the Syrian Scientific
Studies and Research Center (SSRC) is unknown. Alongside typical
chemical warfare agents, snake venoms are an additional component,
allegedly only as a means to manufacture anti-venom sera. The
characteristics of a concrete serial product brought out within that
context may point to a significant activity of SSRC.
A scientific paper published recently by the
Department of Emergency Medicine at the American University of Beirut
Medical Center revealed that a biomedical product manufactured serially
by the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) contains
polyvalent anti-serum to be used as an emergency treatment against the
venoms of six snakes. The snakes are the Indian cobra, the Levant viper,
the saw-scaled viper, the Israeli viper, the sand viper, and the horned
desert viper. Named Antivenom-2, the anti-serum is prepared from pure
plasma separated from the blood of healthy horses that are immunized by
the venoms. This implies that the venoms have been obtained and
accumulated by SSRC.
The anti-serum vial volume is 10 ml with a protein
content of 3.5% and preservative in the form of m-cresol 0.15%. The
anti-serum is stored at 2°C-8°C and has a shelf life of 18 months.
According to the paper, the anti-serum is intended
to be used against the venoms of snakes that are widely spread over
Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. However, one of them – the Indian cobra – is
not in fact found anywhere in the Middle East (it is found westwards as
far as Pakistan). The inclusion of Indian cobra venom is hence
intriguing.
Indian cobra venom contains a powerful
post-synaptic neurotoxin and a cardiotoxin. It acts on the synaptic gaps
of the nerves, thereby paralyzing muscles, and in more severe cases
leading to respiratory failure or cardiac arrest. The two toxins or
their combination are considered biological warfare agents and
bioterrorism agents.
The SSRC is well known as a chief developer and
producer of weapons systems in Syria, including chemical warfare agents
and chemical weapons. Foreign scientists collaborating with the SSRC are
primarily from Iran and secondarily from North Korea, two countries
that each possess sizable arsenals of chemical and biological weapons.
In Iran, the Razi Institute in Karaj (not far from
the Iranian Defense Chemical Research Laboratory) produces a similar
anti-serum against the venom of snakes found in that country, of which
one – the Caspian cobra, found in northeast Iran – is a close variant of
the Indian cobra. The Caspian is the most lethal cobra in the world.
The only anti-venom available in Iran for
treatment of snakebite is Razi™ Polyvalent Antivenin. It is an
anti-serum capable of neutralizing the venoms of six of the most common
hazardous snakes indigenous to Iran: the Caspian cobra, the Levant
viper, the saw-scaled viper, the eye-horned viper, the zigzag mountain
viper, and the Asiatic moccasin.
The Razi Institute is a civilian, fairly
autonomous entity, but it is linked to both the Iranian Ministry of
Health and the Ministry of Agriculture, and is indirectly involved with
the Iranian chemical-biological weapons program and alignment. While an
anti-serum against the Caspian cobra is indeed required to safeguard the
Iranian population, open scientific literature indicates that the Razi
Institute also focuses on other matters related to that particular
venom: the isolation of low molecular weight lethal components from
crude venom of Caspian cobra by gel filtration chromatography; the
encapsulation of that venom into copolymer poly (lactide-co-glycolide)
microspheres in the size range of 1-10 micrometers as a biotoxin
carrier; and its encapsulation into nanoparticles of the polysaccharide
chitosan, with an estimated diameter of 120-150 nanometers, as a
carrier. These dual-use technologies are applicable to both
pharmaceuticals and weapons design.
Crude Caspian cobra venom is centrifuged by the
Razi Institute for 10 minutes at 500g, frozen in a -80 °C deep freezer
for four hours, and then lyophilized. It is likely that Indian cobra
crude venom is similarly handled in Syria by the SSRC. Notably, a
delegation led by Ehsan Heydar, Director General of Syria’s Ministry of
Agriculture, visited Iran in September 2017, when he met with Hooman
Fathi, International Director General of the Ministry of Agriculture,
and signed a contract with the Iranian Ministry of Agriculture Jihad to
build a plant for the production of unspecified vaccines. The
specialized aspects of the contract are entirely under the supervision
of the Razi Institute.
Considering the overall profile of the SSRC,
Indian cobra toxins and other snake toxins might be a component of an
ongoing Syrian military biological program, either with or without the
involvement of Iranian scientists. As proteins, such biotoxins could in
principle be serially produced by means of molecular cloning as well as
the traditional system of manufacturing through snake milking.
Another protein biotoxin – the potent plant toxin
ricin – was covertly produced on a wide scale at a hidden facility of
SSRC that was revealed a few years ago, admitted by the Syrian regime,
and apparently dismantled. Syria thus acknowledged its project to
develop ricin, a highly lethal biological toxin that has been weaponized
in the past by the USSR and the US. The Syrian declaration was made
only in retrospect and under suspicious circumstances. The plant in
question is the Al-Maliha Ricin Production Facility, but that plant
might be just the tip of the iceberg.
An open question still remains, then, as to
whether other biotoxins, including cobra toxins and infectious
biological warfare agents, are being methodically weaponized anywhere in
Syria. The SSRC can be readily assisted in this by Iran, which
possesses stockpiles of biological weapons. Such assistance might well
be taking place. It is entirely plausible that the SSRC turns an unknown
portion of its crude Indian cobra venom into a biological warfare agent
rather than use it entirely to produce an anti-serum.
Some buildings in the Barzeh offshoot of the SSRC
were bombed during the April 12, 2018 US-Britain-France raid. Barzeh is
recognized as the core Syrian facility for research, development,
production, and testing of chemical and biological warfare technology.
It specializes above all in installing CW on long-range missiles and
artillery. Closed sections of Barzeh in which manufacturing and
maintenance of munitions were taking place were inaccessible to the
Organization of Prohibition of Chemical Weapons inspectors, which
reported that it had carried out inspections of the facility in February
and November 2017 and had not seen “any activities inconsistent with
obligations under the CW Convention.” After the April 2018 raid, an SSRC
engineer working at Barzeh said the bombed facility “has been producing
antidotes to snake and scorpion venoms while running tests on chemical
products used in making medicines, foods, and children’s toys,”
certainly a curious intersection. Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, director of
the US military Joint Staff, said the facility was in fact an important
part of the Syrian chemical weapons program.
BESA Center Perspectives Papers are published through the generosity of the Greg Rosshandler Family
Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Dany Shoham, a microbiologist and an expert on chemical and biological warfare in the Middle East, is a senior research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. He is a former senior intelligence analyst in the IDF and the Israeli Defense Ministry.
Source: https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/a-snake-pit-at-the-syrian-scientific-studies-and-research-center/
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