UNITED NATIONS Russia said on Thursday it is prepared to work with the United States at the United Nations on how to respond to a report that blamed Syrian government forces for two chlorine gas attacks and Islamic State militants for using sulfur mustard gas.
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The JIM was set up by the Security Council a year ago to investigate the use of chemical weapons and for the first time to determine who is responsible for the attacks.
Syrian air force helicopters dropped “a device” on houses that was followed by the “release of a toxic substance”, which in the case of Sarmin matched “the characteristics of chlorine”.
The Syrian government and Islamic State used chemical weapons during attacks in Syria in 2014 and 2015, a United Nations report has concluded.
But Churkin repeatedly sidestepped questions about the team’s conclusion that the Syrian government used chlorine gas in two attacks, reiterating that the report is “very technical”, “quite complicated” and needs study.
In 2013 Syria agreed to dismantle and destroy its stockpile of chemical weapons in a deal hailed by Russian Federation and the U.S. The Security Council passed a resolution that pledged to evoke Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which authorizes military force and sanctions, if chemical weapons were transferred to or used in Syria.
But following reports that Syria had used sarin gas in 2013, Obama – in the face of Republican and Democratic opposition – delayed in authorizing military action.
The UN’s confirmation this week that the resolution has been violated has revived the political dispute.
Power said she expected the UN/OPCW inquiry to continue its investigation into those cases and any other chemical weapons attacks confirmed and referred by the OPCW fact-finding investigation.
If the panel concludes that the Assad regime was responsible for some of the chemical attacks, the Security Council would then decide whether to impose sanctions or possibly ask the International Criminal Court to take up the matter as a war crime. “So what’s the president going to do about it?”
He said: “When it comes to proliferation, use of chemical weapons, such weapons of mass destruction, we can not afford being weak and the council will have to act”.
Earnest also defended the Moscow-orchestrated agreement.
“Unfortunately, that has not prevented the Assad regime from taking a compound like chlorine and weaponizing it”, Earnest acknowledged.
The OPCW confirmed in the summer of 2014 that Syria’s declared stockpile of chemical weapons had been removed from the country.
UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon submitted the report to the members of the Security Council Wednesday.
The United States will seek accountability at the U.N. and the OPCW and has placed “a high priority” on targeting the DAESH’s chemical weapons capabilities, Price said.
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The report raised the stakes in the global community’s attempts to reach a solution for Syria’s bloody, five- year war, quickly prompting a call for forceful action by some Security Council diplomats.
