European Union members of the Security Council Great Britain, France, Germany, Poland, Belgium, and Estonia on Tuesday called on members of the Council to hold accountable the elements of the Syrian regime involved in the use of chemical weapons against civilians in 2017.
A joint statement by the six states welcomed the release of the first report of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on April 8, which accused the Assad regime’s air force of carrying out chemical attacks on the town of Latamina in Hama Governorate in March 2017.
The statement condemned the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime as was concluded by the OPCW’s report. It stressed that “impunity for these terrible acts will not be tolerated. It is now up to the international community to consider the report and take appropriate action.”
The statement stressed that “those identified responsible for the use of chemical weapons must be held accountable for these reprehensible acts… The use of chemical weapons by anyone anywhere, at any time and under any circumstance is a violation of international law and can amount to the most serious of international crimes, w crimes and crimes against humanity.
“We reaffirm our commitment to supporting the OPCW in its efforts to implement the decision of the States Parties issued in June 2018, to put in place arrangements to identify the perpetrators of the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arabic Republic.”
On 8 April, the Investigation and Identification Team (IIT), established by the OPCW in 2018, presented its first report. According to the report, there are enough grounds to conclude that the three chemical attacks in Lataminah in 2017 were conducted by the Assad regime. (Source: SOC’s Media Department)
