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UN / SYRIA CHEMICAL WEAPONS
STORY: / SYRIA CHEMICAL WEAPONS
TRT: 3:32
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / ENGLISH / RUSSIAN / NATS
DATELINE: 06 SEPTEMBER 2018, NEW YORK CITY
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UNHQ exterior
06 SEPTEMBER 2018, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Izumi Nakamitsu, Under Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, United Nations:
“The lack of a mechanism to attribute responsibility to those who have used chemical weapons has been deeply troubling and a missing step on the path towards accountability. The closure of the UN-OPCW Joint Investigative Mechanism, which was mandated to identify the perpetrators of such acts, emboldened those who sought to carry out further attacks. Anyone who uses chemical weapons must be identified and must be held to account.”
4. Med shot, ambassadors
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Izumi Nakamitsu, Under Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, United Nations:
“I wish to reiterate that it is of vital importance that humanitarian principles be upheld, all relevant international disarmament and non-proliferation norms - most importantly the Chemical Weapons Convention - are fully respected, and that all sides work together to avoid further escalation, in Syria including in and around Idlib.”
6. Wide shot, Security Council
7. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vassily Alekseevich Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations:
“Damascus does not have chemical weapons, nor do they have plans to use them. We consider such kinds of warning as an invitation for terrorists carry out a new staged chemical attack and accuse the Syrian authorities of the same attack. This is not something the Syrian authorities need, but the terrorists do need this very much because for them it is an opportunity to provoke an act of aggression against Damascus.”
8. Med shot, Syrian ambassador
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Nikki Haley, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations:
“In the past 18 months, I have stood on this floor twice, promising that the United States would respond to the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Both times, this administration followed through. The United States and its allies forced the Assad regime to pay its price for its crimes. So we want to take this opportunity to remind Assad and his Russian and Iranian partners: you don’t want to bet against the United States responding again.”
10. Wide shot, Security Council
11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bashar Ja’afari, Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations:
“We in Syria are fighting Al Qaeda over our own soil, not in Washington, New York, London, or Paris. We are fighting the same Al Qaeda which carried out the September 11 attacks in New York. We are fight Al Qaeda which attacked Paris and London, and many European capitals. Our reward was that you became a supporting force for Al Qaeda against us; we, the ones who are fighting it on your behalf and on behalf of your people.”
12. Med shot, US ambassador
13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bashar Ja’afari, Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations:
“Ask yourselves ladies and gentlemen as those entrusted with upholding international law and the UN Charter, what would push Syria to use a weapon which is internationally prohibited, it does not possess, it does not achieve any true military goals, and does nothing but create a pretext for the three aggressor powers to launch one military attack after another on us?”
14. Wide shot, Security Council
The UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs said the lack of a mechanism to attribute responsibility for the use of chemical weapons in Syria has been “deeply troubling” adding that anyone who uses them “must be identified and must be held to account.”
Briefing the Security Council today (06 Sep), Izumi Nakamitsu said the closure of the Joint Investigative Mechanism of the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which was mandated to identify the perpetrators of chemical weapons attacks, “emboldened those who sought to carry out further attacks.” She said the use of chemical weapons is unacceptable by any party and under any circumstances.
Turning to the situation Idlib, Nakamitsu reiterated that it is of “vital importance that humanitarian principles be upheld, all relevant international disarmament and non-proliferation norms - most importantly the Chemical Weapons Convention - are fully respected, and that all sides work together to avoid further escalation.”
Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Syrian military chemical weapons capabilities were destroyed a long time ago describing talks of Damascus preserving part of its stockpile as pure propaganda.
SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vassily Alekseevich Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations:
“Damascus does not have chemical weapons, nor do they have plans to use them. We consider such kinds of warning as an invitation for terrorists carry out a new staged chemical attack and accuse the Syrian authorities of the same attack. This is not something the Syrian authorities need, but the terrorists do need this very much because for them it is an opportunity to provoke an act of aggression against Damascus.”
Nebenzia said Russia had provided information to the OPCW that chemical weapons were brought into the area of Idlib which is not under government control. He said fighters were being trained by Western special services adding that several dozens of children were also kidnapped in the province.
United States ambassador Nikki Haley said a Syrian Government offensive on Idlib would be a reckless escalation even if chemical weapons were not used. She said the build-up of Russian naval forces on the coast of Syria signals that Moscow was pre-positioning itself to once more abet the murder and mayhem of the Syrian Government, adding that there were signs the Government was planning to use chemical weapons.
SOUNDBITE (English) Nikki Haley, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations:
“In the past 18 months, I have stood on this floor twice, promising that the United States would respond to the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Both times, this administration followed through. The United States and its allies forced the Assad regime to pay its price for its crimes. So, we want to take this opportunity to remind Assad and his Russian and Iranian partners: you don’t want to bet against the United States responding again.”
Syrian ambassador Bashar Ja’afari said the those who protect Israel’s nuclear, biological, and chemical stockpiles and destroyed Iraq on false pretexts do not have the right to make fabricated claims that Syria used chemical weapons.
Ja’afari said the Syrian Government was fighting, on its land, against the same Al Qaeda which “carried out the September 11 attacks in New York” and attacked Paris, London, and other European capitals. He said, “Our reward was that you became a supporting force for Al Qaeda against us; we, the ones who are fighting it on your behalf and on behalf of your people.”
He called on Members of the Security Council to ask themselves why the Syrian Government would use an internationally prohibited weapon which “does nothing but create a pretext for the three aggressor powers to launch one military attack after another” on Syria.
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