The International Partnership welcomes the holding of the Assad regime responsible for the chemical attack on Saraqib in Idlib countryside

The International Partnership Group welcomed the second report of the investigation and identification team of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, against impunity for the use of chemical weapons, which held the Assad regime responsible for the chemical attack on the city of Saraqib in Idlib countryside in 2018.

In its report, the International Partnership expressed its regret for the lack of cooperation that the investigation team faced from the Assad regime, including its refusal to grant access to the team and its head, as well as access to confidential information related to its military and chemical program.

The group, a union of 40 countries and the European Union, declared its deep sympathy to the victims of the use of chemical weapons, stressing that it had a “firm belief that these reprehensible crimes cannot go unpunished.”

It stressed that it “owes the victims to take the necessary measures,” stressing its commitment to upholding international standards and rules against the use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere and under any circumstances.

And it called on all parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention to continue combating impunity, by sending a clear signal from the international community to the Assad regime, that this use will not be tolerated, and to hold accountable those responsible for the use of chemical weapons.

It stressed its commitment to cooperate to the fullest extent possible with regard to criminal investigations and trials, including the International Impartial and Independent Mechanism and the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, related to the Assad regime’s aviation use of chemical weapons under the control of the “Tiger Forces” in the attack on the city of Saraqib in Idlib countryside.