OPCW probing ‘all credible’ reports of chemical attacks by regime
THE HAGUE: A global watchdog said Wednesday it is probing “all credible allegations” of the use of chemical weapons in Syria, amid mounting reports they are allegedly being deployed by Damascus.
The accusations “continue to be of grave concern,” the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said.
A fact-finding mission mandated “to establish the facts surrounding allegations of the use of toxic chemicals... is investigating all credible allegations,” the body said in a statement.
The latest fighting in Syria’s seven-year-old civil war has seen an uptick in the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Bashar Assad regime, including on the opposition-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta.
The fresh violence has sparked wide concern and drawn threats of military action from the US.
“Any use of chemical weapons is a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and the hard-won international norm prohibiting these weapons,” said OPCW chief Ahmet Uzumcu.
“Those responsible for their use must be held accountable. These abhorrent weapons have no place in the world today.”
France said Wednesday that “all indications” suggested the Syrian regime was using chlorine weapons against opposition forces.
And the US on Monday accused Russia of delaying the adoption of a UN Security Council condemnation of reported chlorine gas attacks in Syria that have left many injured, including children, in recent days.
US Ambassador Nikki Haley told the council there was “obvious evidence from dozens of victims” to corroborate the chlorine attacks in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta.
The OPCW’s fact-finding mission was set up in April 2014, and its reports were sent to a joint UN and OPCW panel, known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM).
The JIM sought to identify those behind the deadly attacks, but the renewal of its UN mandate has been blocked since November by Russia.
A previous JIM probe however found that Syrian forces were responsible for an April 2016 sarin attack on the opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhun that killed scores of people.
The panel found that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces had used chlorine in two attacks on opposition-held villages in 2014 and 2015. It also determined that Daesh had used mustard gas in 2015 in the country.
Fresh regime strikes killed 23 civilians Wednesday in Eastern Ghouta where overwhelmed medics were still treating the survivors of the Syrian conflict’s bloodiest day in months.
“The civilian toll is now 80. Two wounded people died after midnight,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
“This was the highest civilian toll in Syria in nearly nine months, and one of the bloodiest days for Eastern Ghouta in several years,” the head of the Britain-based monitoring group told AFP.
Nineteen children and 20 women are among the dead, and around 200 were wounded. There was no respite for Ghouta residents as regime warplanes returned on Wednesday morning and carried out strikes that killed nearly two dozen civilians across several towns.
Ten were killed in Beit Sawa, among them four children. Another eight died in Hammuriyeh and five in Douma, the observatory said.
In Hammuriyeh, a young man stared at the bodies of five children, including his younger brother, killed in a recent airstrike.
“I saw them filling up water, and a few minutes later the airplane hit. I came back and found all five dead,” he said.
Civilians had been bracing for more raids as the regime appeared intent on ratcheting up the pressure on the opposition-held enclave.
“Please break up all gatherings and clear the streets,” blared an announcement from mosque minarets in Douma.
Surrounding areas and villages had been heavily battered by raids on Tuesday, flooding Douma’s hospitals with wounded children.
Home to an estimated 400,000 people, the Eastern Ghouta region has been included in a de-escalation deal that was meant to bring calm.
But bombardment there has increased in recent days, including with suspected chlorinefilled munitions.
On Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that “all indications” pointed to the Syrian regime’s use of chlorine weapons in Syria.
“All indications... tell us today that chlorine is being used by the regime at present in Syria,” he told BFM television.
The de-escalation zones, according to the UN’s regional humanitarian coordinator for Syria, were not doing enough to stem the violence.
“There is a misperception that de-escalation areas have resulted in peace and stability,” Panos Moumtzis told reporters in Beirut.
“Eastern Ghouta is a de-escalation area. If anything, there has been a serious escalation... The conflict in Syria is far from over,” Moumtzis said.
He said the situation had grown more dire because of the multiple fronts raging at the same time.
“It’s the first time — between Eastern Ghouta, Idlib, Afrin — we have multiple fronts with people in extreme danger without a view to a solution,” he said. “Now, we feel we’ve reached a breaking point.”
More than 340,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since the conflict in Syria erupted in March 2011.