NEW YORK: Concerned by the persistent allegations of chemical weapon use in Syria, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the use of chemical weapons, under any circumstances, is unjustifiable and abhorrent.
The Secretary-General met on 20 March with the Director General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and reiterated his support for its work in investigating allegations of the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
In a statement by the spokesman for the secretary-general on Wednesday, Guterres added equally unjustifiable is a lack of response to such use, if and when it occurs and impunity cannot prevail with respect to such serious crimes.
The Secretary-General reiterates his call for the Security Council to demonstrate unity and resolve on this matter.
Several times a year, numerous reports on extremely serious violations perpetrated in Syria are presented to representatives of the international community by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, set up in August 2011 by the United Nations Human Rights Council.
These remarks came during Guterres’s meeting with the Director General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), expressing his support for its work in investigating allegations of the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
The chemical attack on Ghouta in August 2013, which killed more than 1300 people, would mark a turning point in the conflict.
Foreign powers involved in combating the Assad regime seem content with mere condemnations and the occasional reprisal – like the one-off US cruise missile strike of April 2017 after the chemical attack on Khan Sheikhun in Idlib province.
