Syria rejects UN investigator's report of Khan Sheikhoun gas attack
UNITED NATIONS, New York – The Foreign and Expatriates Ministry in Damascus has rejected a joint United Nations and Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) report blaming the Syrian regime for a sarin gas attack in Khan Sheikhoun.
“Syria strongly condemns the direct and indirect accusations against it which were included in this report and the previous one since they represent a falsification of the truth and distortion of all accurate information about what happened in Khan Sheikhon,” Syria's state-run SANA news agency reported an unnamed source in the ministry as saying.
The statement blamed “suspicious witnesses” and “open sources.” It added that Syria has “complete commitment” to OPCW and “no longer has any toxic chemicals banned.”
Experts from the UN and the chemical weapons watchdog filed a report with the UN Security Council that says leaders within OPCW “are “confident that the Syrian Arab Republic is responsible for the release of sarin at Khan Sheikhoun on April 4, 2017.”
The attack killed more than 90 people and hundreds more suffered injuries. Many victims were treated in Turkey.
When the findings of the OPCW fact-finding mission were brought before the UN for a vote, the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) requested an extension on their mission. The extension was vetoed by Russia.
The United States blames Russia for protecting the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Moscow for the ninth time used its veto powers to halt a UN investigation into chemical weapons usage in Syria. Russia and Iran have been Assad's primary backers.
“Russia has once again demonstrated it will do whatever it takes to ensure the barbaric Assad regime never faces consequences for its continued use of chemicals as weapons,” US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said in a statement.
The experts determined sarin was released from a crater in the northern part of Khan Sheikhoun between 6:30 a.m. and 7 a.m. on April 4. They rejected the possibility of an improvised explosive device causing the crater because of a lack of damage to the surroundings.
In April, Russia blamed an air strike for hitting a rebel-held storage depot.
The UN investigators received information that Syrian air force planes “may have been in a position to launch aerial bombs in the vicinity” of the town. But it said air force flight records and other records provided by Syria’s government made no mention of Khan Sheikhoun.
The United States responded to the chemical weapons attack at the time by launching cruise missiles at a nearby air base it said was being used by the regime.
China and Kazakhstan abstained from the vote. Bolivia, Russia and 11 other countries voted against extending the mandate. The panel, known as JIM, was set up by Russia and the United States in 2015 to identify the perpetrators of chemical attacks in Syria’s civil war which has raged since 2011.
“We did not close the JIM. We simply did not take a decision on extending it today,” said Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia. “We will return to it.”
“Syria strongly condemns the direct and indirect accusations against it which were included in this report and the previous one since they represent a falsification of the truth and distortion of all accurate information about what happened in Khan Sheikhon,” Syria's state-run SANA news agency reported an unnamed source in the ministry as saying.
The statement blamed “suspicious witnesses” and “open sources.” It added that Syria has “complete commitment” to OPCW and “no longer has any toxic chemicals banned.”
Experts from the UN and the chemical weapons watchdog filed a report with the UN Security Council that says leaders within OPCW “are “confident that the Syrian Arab Republic is responsible for the release of sarin at Khan Sheikhoun on April 4, 2017.”
The attack killed more than 90 people and hundreds more suffered injuries. Many victims were treated in Turkey.
When the findings of the OPCW fact-finding mission were brought before the UN for a vote, the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) requested an extension on their mission. The extension was vetoed by Russia.
The United States blames Russia for protecting the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Moscow for the ninth time used its veto powers to halt a UN investigation into chemical weapons usage in Syria. Russia and Iran have been Assad's primary backers.
“Russia has once again demonstrated it will do whatever it takes to ensure the barbaric Assad regime never faces consequences for its continued use of chemicals as weapons,” US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said in a statement.
The experts determined sarin was released from a crater in the northern part of Khan Sheikhoun between 6:30 a.m. and 7 a.m. on April 4. They rejected the possibility of an improvised explosive device causing the crater because of a lack of damage to the surroundings.
In April, Russia blamed an air strike for hitting a rebel-held storage depot.
The UN investigators received information that Syrian air force planes “may have been in a position to launch aerial bombs in the vicinity” of the town. But it said air force flight records and other records provided by Syria’s government made no mention of Khan Sheikhoun.
The United States responded to the chemical weapons attack at the time by launching cruise missiles at a nearby air base it said was being used by the regime.
China and Kazakhstan abstained from the vote. Bolivia, Russia and 11 other countries voted against extending the mandate. The panel, known as JIM, was set up by Russia and the United States in 2015 to identify the perpetrators of chemical attacks in Syria’s civil war which has raged since 2011.
“We did not close the JIM. We simply did not take a decision on extending it today,” said Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia. “We will return to it.”