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7915th Security Council Meeting: Situation in Middle East; Syria
Delivering his briefing, High Representative Kim Won-Soo said information on the reported 4 April use of chemical weapons in Khan Shaykhun, in Syria’s Idlib Governorate, was still coming in. According to the most recent media reports, a chemical attack might have caused the deaths of at least 70 civilians, and possibly injured more than 200. The Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had informed that the OPCW-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism was gathering and analysing information from all available sources, and would be prepared to deploy a team at the earliest opportunity.
He said the attack had reportedly been carried out through an air strike on a residential area, but the means of delivery could not be confirmed. Syria’s chargé d’affaires had said, in discussions on 4 April, that his country’s Government denied having used chemical weapons in that or any other attack. For the last three years following Syria’s initial declaration that all chemical materials and production equipment had been removed or destroyed, four hangars and seven tunnels had been disabled, while one hangar and two above-ground stationary facilities remained subject to verification of disablement, he said.
To complete the work, OPCW, Syria and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) had extended the Tripartite Agreement until the end of 2017, he said. Consultations between the OPCW and Syria to address outstanding issues related to Syria’s declaration would resume in The Hague in early May, he continued. The first OPCW inspection had taken place at the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Centre from 26 February to 5 March, during which time inspectors had taken samples now being analysed in OPCW-designated laboratories. Meanwhile, the OPCW fact-finding mission was examining recent incidents and would finalize its reporting in the coming weeks.
In the ensuing debate, delegates expressed unanimous outrage over the use of chemical weapons, but differed over varying reports of what had actually happened and the appropriate course of action. The representative of the United States called the attack “a new low, even for the barbaric Assad regime”, emphasizing that such events would continue if nothing was done, because the Government of Syria — shielded by the Russian Federation — would have no incentive to stop. If the United Nations consistently failed to act collectively, States would be compelled to take their own action, she warned.
Several speakers said that the Syrian Government bore primary responsibility for the attack, with France’s representative saying there was significant evidence that the event had not resulted from an air strike on a warehouse belonging to rebel groups, as some had claimed. The atrocities had demonstrated the Assad regime’s “destructive folly”, he added, encouraging the Council to unite around a draft resolution to be tabled by his delegation alongside those of the United Kingdom and the United States.
The United Kingdom’s representative said the Assad regime continued to humiliate the Russian Federation by demonstrating just how empty Syria’s promises to remove its chemical weapons had been. If Moscow hoped to regain its credibility, it must join the Council in helping efforts to ensure accountability, rather than hindering them. The world viewed the Council as a “table of diplomats doing nothing”, he said, calling upon the Russian Federation to support the draft.
Responding to those remarks, the Russian Federation’s representative said the draft resolution was intended only to exert pressure on the Joint Investigative Mechanism to ensure it produced “facts that you need”. Indeed, interest in the attack was interwoven with the “anti-Damascus campaign”, he added, emphasizing that, according to the Russian Federation’s information, it was Syria that had requested OPCW to investigate the events of 4 April. He said that his delegation objected to the draft’s reliance on falsified reports and to the hasty preparation of the text. The draft should condemn the use of chemical weapons by any party, and urge the fact-finding mission to write up thorough reports, he said, stressing that its current efforts could not be called impartial.
Others took a more cautious view, with Bolivia’s representative warning against using the Council as a “pawn on the chessboard of warlords”, and cautioning against anticipating the investigation’s outcome until it was concluded. He stressed, however, that the Council should remember the causes behind the conflict in Syria — the invasion of Iraq more than a decade ago and other demonstrations of the interventionist policies of some States. Those responsible must be held to account, he said.
Egypt’s representative, meanwhile, emphasized the need to bring the 4 April perpetrators to justice. “We cannot understand how such crimes can go unnoticed without accountability,” he said, pledging that his country would support any Council action to hold those responsible to account and urging a focus on the production, possession and use of weapons of mass destruction by non-State actors.
Rounding out the debate, Syria’s representative said the statements made today proved that his country was the victim of two aggressions — an attack by permanent Council members, and a proxy attack by terrorist groups operating under their instructions. Both seemed to have an appetite for fabricating information, he said, rejecting all false claims that the Syrian army had used chemical weapons in Khan Shaykhun. Syria possessed no such weapons in any form, he emphasized, declaring: “We have never used them and we will never use them.”
Also speaking today were representatives of China, Japan, Italy, Uruguay, Kazakhstan, Sweden, Ethiopia, Ukraine and Senegal.
The meeting began at 10:02 a.m. and ended at 11:59 a.m.
