THE HAGUE -- The global chemical weapons watchdog issued a report Wednesday blaming the Syrian air force for a series of chemical attacks using sarin and chlorine in late March 2017 on the central town of Latamneh.
The report marks the first time the Investigation and Identification Team, set up in 2018 by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, has apportioned blame for an attack in Syria and will likely lead to fresh calls for accountability for the regime of President Bashar Assad.
Agency Director-General Fernando Arias said it is now up to the organization, "the United Nations Secretary-General, and the international community as a whole to take any further action they deem appropriate and necessary."
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "has taken note of the report" but he said questions about the content and conclusions should be directed to the watchdog agency.
"As a principle ... the secretary-general reiterates his position that the use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere is intolerable, and impunity for their use is equally unacceptable," Dujarric said. "And it is imperative to identify and hold accountable all those who have used chemical weapons."
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the report "the latest in a large and growing body of evidence that the Assad regime uses chemical weapons attacks in Syria as part of a deliberate campaign of violence against the Syrian people."
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Germany will push for accountability at the U.N. Security Council, where it is a non-permanent member, and at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
"It is now up to the international community to react immediately and ensure that those responsible are brought to justice," he said in a statement.
Exactly how that could happen is unclear. Syria is not a member state of the International Criminal Court, meaning crimes committed on its territory by Syrian nationals cannot be prosecuted at the global court.
The Syrian government has consistently rejected repeated allegations that it launched chemical weapons attacks during the country's civil war. It did not immediately comment on the report released Wednesday.
The report noted that authorities in Damascus repeatedly refused to cooperate with the investigation.
The coordinator of the investigative team, Santiago Onate-Laborde, said in a statement the team concluded that "there are reasonable grounds to believe that the perpetrators of the use of sarin as a chemical weapon in Latamneh on 24 and 30 March 2017, and the use of chlorine as a chemical weapon on 25 March 2017 were individuals belonging to the Syrian Arab Air Force."
The investigation included interviews with witnesses, analysis of samples taken from the sites of the attacks, review of symptoms reported by those affected and medical staff along with examination of imagery including satellite images.
The small town, that was under rebel control at the time of the attacks, lies close to a strategically important highway.
The detailed report, running to 82 pages including annexes, said that on March 24 a Su-22 military plane from the 50th Brigade of the 22nd Air Division of the Syrian Arab Air Force left Shayrat airbase and dropped an M4000 aerial bomb loaded with sarin nerve agent on southern Latamneh.
It said the bomb landed in agricultural land, killing livestock and birds and injuring some 16 people.
A day later, a Syrian air force helicopter dropped a cylinder that smashed through the roof of the town's hospital, ruptured and released chlorine. The report said investigators "obtained information that up to three persons died and that at least 32 persons were injured" in the attack. One of the victims was a surgeon who was carrying out an operation at the time of the attack.
On March 27 an Su-22 plane dropped an M4000 aerial bomb containing sarin in southern Latamneh, affecting at least 60 persons, none of whom was killed.
In his statement, Onate-Laborde said: "Attacks of such a strategic nature would have only taken place on the basis of orders from the higher authorities of the Syrian Arab Republic military command. Even if authority can be delegated, responsibility cannot. ... In the end, the IIT was unable to identify any other plausible explanation."
Pompeo demanded that Syria "immediately cease all development, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons."
Human Rights Watch praised the report.
"Today's confirmation that the Syrian military 'at the highest level' was responsible for sarin and chlorine attacks in 2017 should remove any doubt that the Syrian state deliberately used chemical weapons against its own people," the group's U.N. director Louis Charbonneau said in a statement. "The OPCW's conclusions should be used to support criminal justice for the individuals responsible."
A Section on 04/09/2020