The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) confirmed that the Assad regime used chemical weapons once again in the bombing of the Kubina village in rural Lattakia on May 19. It stressed that the United States, France and Greta Britain must carry out their threats to punish the regime.
In a report issued on Sunday, the monitoring group said that the chemical attack on Kubina came as part of the offensive the Assad regime and Russia have launched in northwestern Syria since April 26.
The Assad regime violated the Customary International Humanitarian Law, the Chemical Weapons Convention and all relevant UN Security Council resolutions, especially resolutions 2118, 2209 and 2235, the Network said. It stressed that the use of these weapons constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
The Network also stressed the need for the four permanent members of the Security Council to ratchet up pressure on the Russian government to stop its support for the Assad regime and to reveal its involvement in this regard.
The Network called on the European Union and the United States to step up support for the IIIM (The International Impartial and Independent Mechanism) which was established under the UN General Assembly resolution 71/248 on December 21, 2016. It also called for activating the courts in states that adopts the principle of the universal jurisdiction to prosecute war crimes committed in Syria.
The report called on the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to identify those responsible for the Kubina attack and other chemical attacks within its new mandate. It also called for making the UN Security Council and international community bear more responsibility so that they abstain from considering any kind of relationship with the regime that uses weapons of mass destruction against civilians right under the watchful eyes of the whole world.
Moreover, the report stressed the need for the states to show greater unity against the regime, which is the number one user of chemical weapons in the current century. It also called for serious, collective action to immediately impose strict, deterrent sanctions on it. It also urged the active states to establish a humanitarian alliance aimed at protecting Syrian civilians from chemical weapons and barrel bombs as Russia will continue to block the UN Security Council by using its veto power. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
