An international team has determined that the Syrian government carried out a third chemical attack in the conflict-wracked nation, a report released late on Friday said.
In August, the team from the UN and a chemical weapons watchdog said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government had used chlorine gas in two attacks, while Islamic State fighters had used mustard gas in one attack.
The team said at the time that three other attacks indicated possible government involvement.
Photo: Reuters
In a report sent to the UN Security Council and seen by reporters, the team said there was “sufficient evidence” to conclude that Syrian forces were responsible for one of the attacks in Qmenas in Idlib governorate on March 16 last year.
It said a device dropped from a high altitude “hit the ground and released the toxic substance that affected the population.”
Witnesses and hospital staff identified the smell and symptoms of chlorine gas.
The team said there was not enough evidence to determine responsibility for the two other attacks.
The experts said they could not confirm the use of barrel bombs in Kfar Zita in Hama governorate on April 18, 2014, because the remnants of the device had been removed and could not be linked with certainty to the location.
They said additional witnesses corroborated that a canister with traces of chlorine was found in Binnish in Idlib governorate on March 24 last year, but the exact time and location could not be established and the canister could not be linked to any of the incident locations.
“It is crucial to hold those who use or intend to use chemicals as weapons accountable for their acts, as it is fundamental to deter all those who continue to believe that there is something to be gained in the use of toxic chemicals as weapons,” the panel said.
The US, Britain and France want the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on the al-Assad regime for using chemical weapons, but Russia, Syria’s closest ally, said the evidence presented in the August report was not conclusive.
Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin indicated that Moscow would oppose any sanctions.
The Security Council is expected to discuss the report on Thursday.
A year ago, the council established the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism, known as the JIM, to identify those responsible for chemical attacks in Syria.
The JIM investigated nine cases in seven towns where a fact-finding mission found that chemical weapons had likely been used.
According to the August report, the JIM found the Syrian government responsible for two chlorine attacks in Idlib governorate — one in Talmenes on April 21, 2014, and one in Sarmin on March 16 last year.
It also said the Islamic State group was “the only entity with the ability, capability, motive and the means to use sulfur mustard” gas in Marea in Aleppo governorate near the Turkish border on Aug. 21 last year.
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