-- U.N. weapons inspectors returned
"overwhelming and indisputable" evidence of the use of
nerve gas in Syria, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said
Monday, calling the findings "beyond doubt and
beyond the pale."
The inspectors' 38-page report was released after Ban
briefed Security Council members on its contents. The
team found what it called "clear and convincing
evidence" that the nerve agent sarin was delivered by
surface-to-surface rockets "on a relatively large scale"
in the suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus on
August 21.
"It is the most significant confirmed use of chemical
weapons against civilians since Saddam Hussein used
them in Halabja in 1988, and the worst use of weapons
of mass destruction in the 21st century," Ban said.
"The international community has a responsibility to
ensure that chemical weapons never re-emerge as an
instrument of warfare," he said.
Ban called the attack "a war crime" and a violation of
treaties banning the use of chemical weapons that date
back to 1925. But the inspectors' mandate did not
include assigning blame for the attack, and Ban would
not speculate on who launched the attack.
The team did identify two types or rockets
it said were used to deliver the gas and
their trajectories, and international
observers have said those weapons are
not known to be in the hands of rebels
battling the government of Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad.
Australian U.N. Ambassador Gary Quinlan,
who is currently serving as president of
the Security Council, said the report
bolsters his country's stance. It "confirms,
in our view, that there is no remaining
doubt that it was the regime that used
chemical weapons."
Read the report
And Samantha Power, the U.S.
ambassador, said a preliminary review of
the report points toward forces loyal to al-
Assad.
"The regime possesses sarin, and we have
no evidence that the opposition possesses
sarin," Power said. "It defies logic" to
think members of the opposition would
have infiltrated a regime-controlled area to
fire on opposition-controlled areas.
Britain, France, and NATO have also said
al-Assad's regime was behind the attack.
But Russia is Syria's leading ally, and
Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin
maintained Moscow's stance that Syrian rebels might be
to blame.
Such suggestions "cannot be simply shrugged off,"
Churkin said, and statements insisting that the
opposition could not have launched the attack "are not
as scientific and grounded in reality as the actual
situation could be." He questioned why rebel forces
didn't report major losses in the August 21 chemical
attack, which the United States says may have killed
more than 1,400, including hundreds of civilians.
Samples examined
The August 21 attack led to U.S. calls for military action
against Syria, which denies its forces unleashed
chemical weapons and blamed rebel fighters for the
deaths. Syria has since agreed to join the 1993
Chemical Weapons Convention and hand over its
chemical arsenal to international inspectors, with the
United States and Russia laying out a fast-paced
framework for Damascus to follow.
Monday's report presents a stark picture of the damage
that can be inflicted by a nerve agent like sarin, one of
three types of poison gas Syria is believed to have
stockpiled .
"Survivors reported that following an attack with
shelling, they quickly experienced a range of symptoms,
including shortness of breath, disorientation, eye
irritation, blurred vision, nausea, vomiting and general
weakness," Ban said. "Many eventually lost
consciousness. First responders described seeing a large
number of individuals lying on the ground, many of
them dead or unconscious."
The weather made things worse. Falling temperatures
at the time of the attack meant the downward
movement of air, allowing the gas "to easily penetrate
the basements and lower levels of buildings and other
structures where many people were seeking shelter,"
Ban said.
Inspectors interviewed survivors and first responders,
collected hair, urine and blood samples and took soil
and environmental samples from the sites where the
rockets fell. The secretary-general said the team
"adhered to the most stringent protocols available for
such an investigation, including to ensure the chain of
custody for all samples."
More than 100,000 people had already
been killed in Syria before August 21,
according to the United Nations. Another
2 million have fled the country, most of
them taking refuge in Lebanon, Turkey,
Jordan and Iraq.
It was not immediately clear how the
report would affect events on the ground.
The opposition Syrian National Coalition
said the findings "demand a unified and
decisive response by the international
community."
"If the world does not act now, this war
will continue, and thousands more will
die," Najib Ghadbian, the coalition's
representative to the United Nations, said
in a written statement. "The people of
Syria look to the U.N. Security Council to
do everything in its power to stop this
conflict and hold the Syrian regime
responsible for its criminal actions."
In Washington, the White House
announced that President Barack Obama
would waive restrictions on exporting
chemical protective gear to provide that
equipment to the opposition and train
"select, vetted members" in its use.
American equipment will also be provided
to the Organisation for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons, the international body
that monitors compliance with the
Chemical Weapons Convention. It will be OPCW
inspectors who are likely to carry out Syria's promised
disarmament.
Syria: There's a chemical weapons agreement. Now
what?
Also Monday, Turkish fighter jets downed a Syrian
helicopter near the border between the two countries
Monday, Turkey's semiofficial Anatolia News Agency
reported, citing Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc.
Syria's state news agency SANA said the helicopter was
watching for "terrorists" crossing the border and
erroneously strayed into Turkish airspace, but was on
its way back across the border when shot down.
Russia slams U.S. remarks on agreement
Even as the world awaited the U.N. inspectors' report
Monday, Russia openly bickered with the United States
about the agreement they struck in Geneva over the
weekend.
The framework they laid out calls for a U.N. resolution
demanding that Syria's chemical weapons be placed
under international control. Security Council powers
are now trying to put that framework into a resolution.
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday
accused U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry "and his
Western allies" of misunderstanding the deal, according
to Russia's state-run Itar-Tass news agency.
Lavrov said the deal does not say the U.N. resolution
will be under Chapter VII of the U.N. charter, which
potentially authorizes the use of force -- and comments
by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that the any
resolution will need to include the possibility of force
"show unwillingness to read the document" that Russia
and the United States endorsed.
The agreement states that if there is noncompliance "or
any use of chemical weapons by anyone in Syria, the
U.N. Security Council should impose measures under
Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter." But it does not
specifically state that the resolution being sought now
will be under that chapter.
Russia holds veto power on the council. But Kerry told
reporters Monday that "Should diplomacy fail, the
military option is still on the table."
"If the Assad regime believes that this is not
enforceable, then they will play games," he said.
Framework for eliminating Syrian chemical weapons
According to the plan, Syria must submit a full list of its
chemical weapons stockpile within a week. International
inspectors must be on the ground in the country by
November, and all production equipment must be
destroyed by the end of November.
By the middle of next year, all chemical weapons
material must be destroyed, according to the
agreement. But the process of securing and destroying
Syria's cache of chemical weapons -- in the middle of a
civil war -- may be a logistical nightmare.
Comments
Post a Comment