Giving Destruction of Assad’s Chemical Weapons Top Priority Disregards the Immense Suffering of Syrian People

Hisham Marwa, member of the legal committee, criticized remarks made by coordinator of the UN mission Sigrid Kaag, who said that “the primary task of the international community for the time being is the transfer and destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons cache as soon as possible.” Marwa said that “we regret that such statements come out of the organizations whose primary task is the protection of human rights. These remarks show a disregard for the suffering of the Syrian people, who have been massacred by Assad’s conventional and non-conventional weapons alike. The international community’s focus on chemical weapons only means it refuses to recognize the real problem in Syria. In fact, the percentage of civilians who were killed by Assad’s chemical weapons does not exceed 5% of the total death toll. The top priority of the international community must be saving lives by realizing that the Syrian people are being killed by other means, and then work to stop these crimes and to hold the perpetrators to account.” Marwa also pointed to the cases of congenital deformities recorded in the areas targeted by Assad’s chemical weapons. Kaag warned that the complete transfer of Assad’s chemical weapons may not meet the specified deadline “because the last stockpile is cached in areas close to Damascus which is witnessing clashes with rebels.” Marwa said that “this is illogical and gives justification for Assad to stall the handover of his chemical weapons cache. We expected the UN mission to cooperate with the Ministry of Defense in the interim government, which has provided plenty of evidence in this regard, and also with rebels and activists to reach all targeted areas, but this did not happen and they did not even tried to contact us.” It is worth noting that Nasser al-Hariri, member of the political committee, said that “the massacres perpetrated by the Assad regime in Syria do not need further evidence, but they have not yet been met by a serious attitude from the international community.” During a press conference held today in Istanbul, Asa’ad Mustafa, Interim Defense Minister, condemned the world’s silence on the crimes of the Assad regime and his continual crossing of red lines even though “compelling evidence about Assad’s use of chemical weapons against civilians has been provided. Assad’s air force dropped two barrel bombs on the town of Tal Minnis in rural Idlib on April 21st. One of them exploded while the other one crashed into the ground without exploding. The helicopters used in the attack are type Mi-17 which took off from Hama air base. The barrel bomb exploded and released chlorine gas in an area with a diameter of two km. As a result, 400 people suffered from suffocation while a six-year-old child died of exposure to the toxic gas.” Mustafa also displayed a photo of a bomb that did not explode, weighing up to 90 kg and filled with chlorine gas. The outer casing was marked with the serial number 100858 plus the manufacturer, the Chinese company Norico which has been subject to sanctions for illegally selling weapons to Iran. We sent the photos to the international organizations and to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical (OPCW), but they replied asking rebels to bury the bomb inside a cave in a mountain.” With regard to Russia’s intention to provide the Assad regime with new warplanes, Mustafa said that “it is strange how the international community allows these Russian and Iranian shipments of advanced weapons to the Assad regime, while denying the victims the chance to obtain the weapons to defend themselves.” Abdel Basset Al Tawil, commander of the northern front, said that “we collected all the technical and material evidence proving Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons. The team tasked with collecting the evidence found many empty canisters that were filled with toxic gases. In the town of Saraqeb of Idlib province, the team found a bomb containing Sarin, which did not explode because it landed in a swamp. Though we sent the evidence to international organization, the response has been disappointing. They told us that we should immediately hide these bombs.” At the end of the press conference, Mustafa warned of the Assad regime’s attempt to sow division among rebels in East and West Ghouta through the assassination of revolutionary figures. (Source: Syrian Coalition)