United Nations: There are 19 pending cases related to chemical weapons in Syria
The United Nations disarmament official, Izumi Nakamitsu, called on the Assad regime to cooperate with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and to announce the quantities of chemical agents that were manufactured or used.
There are 19 pending cases, Nakamitsu said during a meeting of the UN Security Council, due to their links to chemical weapons in Syria.
She indicated that these issues relate to a weapons production facility, while the Assad regime declared that it was never used to produce chemical weapons, but a review of all the information and other materials that the assessment team has collected since 2014 indicates that the facility has been producing and using nerve gas elements in weapons.
Nakamitsu stressed that the Technical Secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons continues to assess this, and that the gaps resulting from the contradictions and inconsistencies and their lack of resolution prevent the Assad regime from declaring this matter fully and accurately in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Treaty.
She stressed that the confidence of the international community in the complete elimination of the Syrian chemical weapons program depends on the ability of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to resolve these outstanding issues.
She hoped to achieve progress during the next round of consultations between the assessment team and the Assad regime later this month, to resolve these issues.
