UN: We have reached solutions to three issues concerning the chemical weapons use in Syria
High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, confirmed that the Technical Secretariate of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has solved three issues concerning the declarations submitted by Bashar al-Assad on its chemical weapons program.
Nakamitsu said during a UN Security Council session that “she is looking forwards to see the positive impacts for this cooperation between the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the Syrian authority after two-year and a half pause.”
Nakamitsu continued that despite the positive results, there is need to enhance cooperation to resolve the outstanding issues regarding Assad regime’s initial and subsequent declarations.
Nakamitsu pointed out that those issues related to undeclared weapons research, the production and weaponizing of large and unknown quantities of chemical weapons which have not been identified by the Technical Secretariate.
Nakamitsu expressed its concerns about the presence of unexpected chemical materials in the samples collected between 2000 and 2023 in many declared sites.
Nakamitsu emphasized that “any use of chemical weapons is unacceptable and a violation of the international law”. She also “echoed the Secretary-General’s call to end impunity for all those who dare to use chemical weapons.”
It is noteworthy that the Assad regime carried out 217 chemical attacks on Syrian provinces, killing 1,514 people, including 214 children and 262 women.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights documented 222 chemical weapons attacks in Syria from its first verified use of chemical weapons on December 23, 2012 until March 2024, approximately 98% of which were at the hands of Assad regime forces, and nearly 2% at the hands of ISIS.
