The Hague:
The Syrian regime’s air force utilised the chemical weapon chlorine in an attack on the town of Saraqib in 2018, the international toxic arms watchdog mentioned on Monday immediately after an investigation.
The report is the second by an investigations group set up by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which has the new energy to apportion blame for attacks.
The OPCW mentioned in a statement that the Investigations and Identification Team (IIT) “concludes that units of the Syrian Arab Air Force used chemical weapons in Saraqib on 4 February 2018”.
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that, at approximately 21:22 on 4 February 2018, a military helicopter of the Syrian Arab Air Force under the control of the Tiger Forces hit eastern Saraqib by dropping at least one cylinder,” the OPCW report mentioned.
“The cylinder ruptured and released chlorine over a large area, affecting 12 named individuals.”
OPCW investigators interviewed 30 witnesses, analysed samples collected at the scene, reviewed symptoms reported by victims and healthcare employees and examined satellite imagery to attain their conclusions, the Hague-based organisation mentioned.
“Symptoms… included shortness of breath, skin irritation, chest pain, and coughing,” the report mentioned.
However it mentioned it “regrets” that the Syrian regime refused to grant access to the web page, some 30 miles (50 kilometres) south of Aleppo, regardless of repeated requests.
The group issued its initially report a year ago, in which it mentioned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s air force utilised the nerve agent sarin and chlorine in two attacks on the village of Lataminah in March 2017.
“Orders would be required”
Despite robust objections by Damascus and its ally Moscow, OPCW member states voted in 2018 to set up the group to attribute blame for attacks. Previously the watchdog could only say if chemical attacks had occurred or not.
Syria has continued to deny the use of chemical weapons and insists it has handed more than its weapons stockpiles beneath a 2013 agreement, prompted by a suspected sarin attack that killed 1,400 folks in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta.
But OPCW investigators mentioned they believed that orders for the 2018 Saraqib attack have to have come from above, and that there was no indication that “rogue elements or individuals” had been accountable.
“The IIT obtained information from various sources suggesting that, for chemical weapons to be used in the manner described above, orders would be required,” the complete report on the attack mentioned.
While it had not identified a “specific chain of command”, the Syrian military common command appeared to have “delegated decisions on the use of chlorine to “operational level commanders”, the OPCW mentioned.
OPCW states will vote later this month on whether or not to impose sanctions on Syria, like the suspension of its voting rights in the organisation, more than its failure to comply with its guidelines.
The OPCW’s governing body has told Syria it have to declare all specifics about the facilities used to make the sarin and chlorine utilised in the 2017 attacks.
Western powers have expressed concern that Damascus has failed to declare and destroy all its chemical weapons beneath the 2013 deal.
The OPCW chief mentioned in March there had been nonetheless gaps and inconsistencies in Syria’s reports to the body.
The United Nations mentioned in March that Damascus had for years failed to reply to a series of 19 concerns about its weapons installations, which could have been used to stock or make chemical weapons.
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