The executive branch of the world’s chemical weapons watchdog on Thursday condemned the use of banned sarin and chlorine bombs by the Assad regime’s air force in attacks on the town of Latamina in rural Hama in the period between March 24-30, 2017.
It followed a report in April by Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons investigators, which found that Syrian Sukhoi Su-22 military planes and a helicopter dropped the bombs on the village of Ltamenaha in the Hama region in March 2017.
In a vote of 29-3, a decision was adopted by the politically-divided 41-member Executive Council of the OPCW in The Hague.
Thursday’s decision gave Damascus 90 days to declare “the facilities where the chemical weapons, including precursors, munitions, and devices, used in the 24, 25, and 30 March 2017 attacks were developed, produced, stockpiled, and operationally stored for delivery.”
“The Council …condemned the use of chemical weapons as reported by the OPCW Investigation and Identification Team (IIT), which concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the Syrian Arab Republic used chemical weapons in Ltamenah, Syria in March 2017.”
The Syrian Opposition Coalition earlier called for international action in accordance with Chapter VII of the UN Charter as required by UN Security Resolution 2118 based on the results of the report of the international organization.
On April 8, the OPCW investigation team concluded that the Assad regime forces had carried out a chemical attack on the town of Latamina in northern rural Hama in March 2017. (Source: SOC’s Media Department)
