A letter sent by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the UN Security Council said that “with respect to the destruction of the 12 chemical weapons production facilities [in Syria], one hangar has yet to be destroyed. That hangar continues to be inaccessible owing to the prevailing security situation.”
A fact-finding mission of the global anti-chemical weapons watchdog has found indications that some people in Syria were exposed to deadly Sarin gas, or a compound like it, according to a report the United Nations released on Monday.
The findings came in the latest monthly report on Syria from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) chief Ahmet Uzumcu. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon attached the report in a Dec. 29 letter to the 15-nation Security Council.
On Tuesday, OPCW announced that Syria’s declared chemical weapons arsenal has been completely destroyed. The organizations’ spokesman Malik Ellahi told AFP that “one hundred percent has been destroyed.”
OPCW said in a statement that U.S. firm Veolia destroyed the last 75 cylinders containing hydrogen fluoride at a facility in Texas.
The organization based in The Hague said “it was still continuing efforts to clarify Syria’s declaration and address ongoing use of toxic chemicals as weapons in that country.”
President Khoja earlier said “that almost two years after the horrible massacre that left more than 1,400 victims dead and thousands more injured in Eastern Ghouta near Damascus in August 2013, the perpetrators are still at large committing more atrocities in all parts of Syria including more than 120 chlorine attacks on Syrian civilians.”
“Resolution 2235 should have not ignored the fact that the real criminals are officials in the Syrian regime, including Bashar al-Assad, who had the capability and full authority to order the attacks and who later only partially handed the crime weapons under pressure which ceased after the adoption of UNSC Resolution 2118,” President Khoja added.
“The UNSC was obliged under resolution 2118 to impose tougher measures against the Syrian regime under Chapter VII of UN Charter as the continuous use of chemical weapons on a smaller scale posed credible concerns that the conditions outlined in the resolution were not fully met,” he stressed
President Khoja emphasizes that “it is an International responsibility to protect civilians in Syria from the atrocities committed by the regime, and there needs to be a new mechanism to bring to an end this painful and inhumane chapter in the Syrian people’s lives if faith in the UN-led political solution is to be restored.” (Source: Syrian Coalition + Agencies)
