The German Foreign Ministry said that the Assad regime “has once again inflicted extreme suffering and committed another violation of both the Chemical Weapons Convention and international humanitarian law.”
In response to the report of the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) on identifying those responsible for the use of chemical weapons in Syria, a German Federal Foreign Office Spokesperson said: “This must have consequences; such monstrous crimes cannot be allowed to go unpunished.”
In a press release issued on Friday, the Spokesperson stressed that “this must be clear to all members of the international community. Even the regime’s supporters cannot turn a blind eye to these acts.” The German urged all members of the UN Security Council to “embrace their responsibility and reconsider extending the JIM in order also to identify those behind other incidents involving the use of chemical weapons.”
The UN-OPCW inquiry, known as JIM, confirmed that the Assad regime was responsible for the release of sarin at Khan Sheikhoun on 4 April 2017.” According to rights groups, the attack claimed the lives of at least 87 civilians and left dozens injured, many of them children.
Nikki Haley, the United States’ UN ambassador said on Friday: “Time and again, we see independent confirmation of chemical weapons use by the Assad regime.”
In a report released on May 1, Human Rights Watch (HRW) presented new evidence supporting the conclusion that the Assad regime forces have used nerve agents on at least four occasions in the period between December 2016 and April 2017, including the April 4 sarin attack on Khan Sheikhoun.
The watchdog group identified three different systems that regime forces are using to deliver chemical weapons: Assad regime warplanes have dropped bombs with nerve agents on at least four occasions since December 12; Assad regime helicopter-dropped chlorine-filled munitions have become more systematic; and regime or pro-regime ground forces have started using improvised ground-launched munitions filled with chlorine. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department + Agencies)
