UN official: 'Sufficient evidence' of 3 cases of chemical weapons use in Syria

The so-called Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) found what it described as "sufficient evidence" of three cases of chemical weapons use – two chlorine gas attacks on civilians by the Syrian air force, and another use of "sulphur-mustard" gas by the terrorist group Daesh – in Syria between 2014 and 2015.

UN News Center said that the Syrian Airforce and Daesh group used toxic chemicals as weapons, according to a new report issued by the panel, which is mandated by the UN Security Council.

The panel, led by a three-person Leadership Panel (Virginia Gamba, Adrian Neritani, Eberhard Schanze), examined nine cases of previously-documented chemical weapons use to establish who was responsible for using them.

In statements on Wednesday, Virginia Gamba said "Well, we have been task-mandated by the UN Security Council, to identify perpetrators on the use of toxic chemicals in Syria, over the last two years.

"And we spent some time looking at this – we had nine cases that we mentioned we would want to go forward with – and now we have finally concluded on the nine cases," Gamba added.

She said "the report talks about three cases that the Leadership Panel has found sufficiency to prove who the responsible members are. In the three cases, the responsible ones were identified as Syrian Airforce (in two of them), with chlorine gas, and in one of them, Daesh, with the use of sulphur mustard." 

The Mechanism was mandated by UN Security Council resolution 2235 (2015) to identify, to the greatest extent feasible, those involved in the use of toxic chemicals as weapons in Syria. 

Earlier, a Fact Finding Mission (FFM) mandated by the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had determined that a specific incident in the Syrian conflict involved or likely involved the use of toxic chemicals as weapons.

After reviewing all the information gathered, the Mechanism found no evidence that armed opposition groups had been operating helicopters at the time and location of the cases investigated.

The report comes as the UN General Assembly prepares to mark, on Wednesday, 31 August, the International Day against Nuclear Tests, dedicated to coalescing global efforts towards achieving a world free of another form of weapons of mass destruction, namely: nuclear weapons.

Source: MENA