Syria Permanent Representative addresses the press

The Syria Permanent Representative responded to the Security Council President’s statement. He stressed that the changing of Sigrid Kaag’s role from special coordinator to special adviser indicated that any remaining issues were technical. He said that the Syrian Government condemned the use of chemical weapons and had already drawn the attention of the Council to the use of chlorine as a weapon two years ago. He said that the OPCW’s draft report on the use of chlorine was still being finalized, had structural flaws and called for Member States to not draw any hasty conclusions. He stressed again that the remaining technical issues should be only dealt with in the Hague and that it was no longer a political matter. He stated that there was a plan to destroy the 12 empty facilities that week. He questioned why some Security Council members had never investigated if terrorist groups were responsible for the chemical weapons in Syria originally.