CHEMICAL ATTACKS
unleashed by Syria, Islamic State fighters in 2014-15, team says.
UNITED NATIONS — An international team has concluded that the Syrian government and Islamic State militants carried out chemical attacks in the conflict-wracked nation during 2014 and 2015, according to its report circulated Wednesday.
The team, which was mandated by the U.N. Security Council a year ago to identify those responsible for chemical attacks in Syria, blamed the government for using chlorine gas in two attacks and Islamic State fighters for using mustard gas in one attack.
The report to the council by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism said three other cases pointed toward government responsibility but weren’t conclusive.
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power urged the Security Council to take “strong and swift action” against the perpetrators.
She accused the Syrian government of violating a council resolution banning the use of chemical weapons and its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which the U.N. organization monitors.
The experts’ findings mirror “numerous other confirmed cases of chemical-weapons use across Syria, and countless other allegations of such use, including as recently as several weeks ago,” Power said.
France’s U.N. Ambassador Alexis Lamek also called for council action saying: “When it comes to proliferation, use of chemical weapons, such weapons of mass destruction, we cannot afford being weak and the council will have to act.”
The Security Council is scheduled to discuss the Joint Investigative Mechanism’s report on Tuesday, but whether it will take any action remains to be seen.
According to the report, the Joint Investigative Mechanism found the Syrian government responsible for two chlorine attacks in Idlib governorate, one in Talmenes on April 21, 2014 and one in Sarmin on March 16, 2015.
It also said the Islamic State extremist group was “the only entity with the ability, capability, motive and the means to use sulfur mustard” gas in Marea in Aleppo governorate near the Turkish border on Aug. 21, 2015. At the time, Islamic State fighters were attacking rebels.
The Investigative Mechanism called for further investigation of several other cases it examined, and Power said the U.S. expects the international experts to continue trying to assess responsibility.