Report Backs Claim Assad Forces Responsible For Deadly Sarin Gas Attack
30 December 2017Anadolu Agency
Experts from the U.N. and a chemical weapons watchdog are blaming Syria's
government for a sarin nerve gas attack that killed over 90 people last April.
Their report, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, says leaders of the
expert body are "confident that the Syrian Arab Republic is responsible for
the release of sarin at Khan Sheikhoun on April 4, 2017."
The report supports the initial findings by the United States, France and
Britain that a Syrian military plane dropped a bomb with sarin on the town.
Russia on Friday criticized the United Nations report, with a deputy foreign
minister saying it contained inconsistencies and unverified evidence.
"Even the first cursory read shows … many inconsistencies, logical
discrepancies, using doubtful witness accounts and unverified evidence … all
of this is still [in the report]," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told
Interfax news agency. Ryabkov said other nations were seeking to use the
report to "resolve their own strategic geopolitical issues in Syria." Russia
would analyze the findings and publish a response soon, he added.
Syria and Russia, close allies, have denied any attack and have strongly
criticized the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM), which was established by
the U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to
determine responsibility for chemical weapons attacks in Syria.
The attack in Khan Sheikhoun sparked outrage around the world as photos and
video of the aftermath, including quivering children dying on camera, were
widely broadcast.
The United States blamed the Syrian military and launched a punitive strike days later on
the Shayrat Air Base, from where it said the attack was launched.
Responding to the report, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said:
"Today's report confirms what we have long known to be true. Time and again,
we see independent confirmation of chemical weapons use by the Assad regime."
Clearly referring to Russia, she said: "In spite of these independent reports,
we still see some countries trying to protect the regime. That must end now."
The U.N. Security Council should make it clear that "the use of chemical
weapons by anyone will not be tolerated," Haley said.
A fact-finding mission by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons reported on June 30 that sarin was used in the Khan Sheikhoun attack
and "sulfur mustard" in Um Hosh. But JIM experts had the task of determining
who conducted the attacks.
The JIM experts said Thursday they are confident the Daesh extremist group was
responsible for an attack in Um Hosh in Aleppo on Sept. 15-16, 2016, that used
"sulfur mustard," the chemical weapon commonly known as mustard gas.
The report was issued two days after Russia vetoed a U.S.-sponsored resolution
to extend the mandate of JIM investigators another year after it expires on
Nov. 17.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated "his full confidence in the
professionalism, impartiality and objectivity" of the JIM and looks forward to
the U.N. Security Council's consideration of the report on Nov. 7, U.N. deputy
spokesman Farhan Haq said.
84 people, including 17 children killed by Assad regime near Damascus, UN
says
The World Health Organization says Syrian health officials have reported that
84 people have been killed and another 659 injured over a four-day stretch of
intensified fighting in a region near the capital, Damascus.
The U.N. health agency said the casualties occurred between Nov. 14 to Nov. 17
in clashes between opposition fighters and forces that support the Assad
regime in the eastern Ghouta region. The area on the outskirts of Damascus has
been under a regime siege for more than four years.
Seventeen children and six women were among those killed.
The agency also said in a statement Wednesday that more than 200 operations
were conducted in eastern Ghouta despite blockages that have prevented
deliveries of humanitarian aid including life-saving medicines, medical
equipment, and surgical supplies.
Elizabeth Hoff, WHO's Representative in Syria, said medical evacuations of
critically-ill patients are "long overdue."
Civil-defense units reportedly rushed to the scene of the attacks to treat the
injured and transport them to lcoal hospitals.
Regime forces have recently stepped up their attacks on Eastern Ghouta, even
though the district falls within a network of de-escalation zones -- endorsed
by Turkey, Russia and Iran -- in which acts of aggression are prohibited.
Over the course of the past week, regime forces have carried out repeated
attacks on the district, leaving dozens of civilian residents dead or injured.
Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating civil war that began in
early 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with
unexpected ferocity.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the fighting
and more than 10 million have been displaced, according to to the U.N.
©
EsinIslam.Com
Add Comments