The report also found that the Islamic State group, which is already under United Nations sanctions, was behind at least one chemical attack.
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“There is nobody to sanction in the report”, he said.
The worldwide team of inspectors looked into nine cases in seven towns and determined that the Syrian air force was behind two attacks involving chlorine – in Talmanes on 21 April 2014 and Sarmin on 16 March 2015 – and that jihadist militants from Islamic State (IS) carried out one attack involving sulphur mustard.
A United Nations resolution passed at that time said in the event of “any use of chemical weapons by anyone” in Syria in the future, the council could impose sanctions and even authorize military action against Syria.
French Ambassador Francois Delattre called for a “quick and strong Security Council response” that would include “imposing sanctions on those who are responsible for these acts”.
France is now pressing members of the UN Security Council, including Russian Federation, to condemn the Syrian Government.
But Syrian UN Ambassador Bashar Jaafari said western powers have no grounds to punish the regime, as the report lacked “physical evidence” to support its conclusions that chlorine barrel-bombs were dropped on civilians. “It contains no names, no specifics, no fingerprints”.
However, the UN Security Council failed during a closed-door session on Tuesday to agree on any action, with Russian Federation questioning the evidence from the independent commission.
Virginia Gamba, who headed the inspection team, defended their methodology but conceded that it was hard to prove the use of chlorine, which is commercially available and evaporates quickly.
Speaking to al-Mayadeen TV on Wednesday, al-Jaafari added that the final report of the chemical weapons inspectors’ team in Syria has not been come up yet, and what was published so far is based on false testimonies, adding that almost 60 parties have been made to fabricate allegations against the Syrian government in the chemical issue.
Heading into the meeting, Samantha Power, the USA ambassador, called the report “a landmark” and said she expected a Security Council resolution “soon”.
According to Gamba, UN and OPCW experts are “acutely aware of the ongoing use of chemicals as weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic”.
They found that an attack in Talmenes on April 21, 2014 and in Sarmin on March 15, 2015 were carried out by the Syrian Air Force.
Sources said that it is possible for the Security Council to wait until the fourth report to discuss its next move and whether to impose sanctions or not.
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Inspectors said that between December 2015 and August 2016 they received more than 130 new allegations from United Nations member states of the use of chemical weapons or toxic chemicals as weapons in Syria. We have serious doubts about how witnesses are sought or responsibilities are demarcated in the theater of military operations in Syria, including the formula to determine the culprits for the use or not of aviation in the events.
