UN leader Ban Ki-moon. PHOTO: REUTERS
UN leader Ban Ki-moon on Monday condemned chemical weapon attacks in Syria as a war crime and said UN investigators had indisputable evidence of their use.
Ban called on the Security Council to impose “consequences” for any failure by President Bashar al Assad to keep to a Russia-US plan to destroy Syria’s banned chemical arsenal.
Ban told the 15-nation council that UN investigators have “now confirmed, unequivocally and objectively that chemical weapons have been used in Syria.”
“This is a war crime,” he added.
“I trust all can join me in condemning this despicable crime,” Ban told a closed meeting of the Council, which is divided between supporters and opponents of tough international action against Assad.
Ban told the council how doctors treated civilians with no external signs of injuries in the streets of Ghouta, east of Damascus, in the hours after the August 21 attack.
The United States, which has threatened a military strike over the chemical arms, estimates that 1,400 people died in the attack.
“The weather conditions that morning were conducive to maximising the potential impact,” Ban said.
The UN investigators confirmed the use of sarin gas in a the poison gas attack in the suburbs of Damascus, noting that weather conditions at the time ensured the maximum number of people were killed.
As expected, the report does not say who launched the attack in the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Ghouta.
The United States, however, insisted that Bashar al Assad’s regime was responsible. “On the basis of the evidence obtained during the investigation of the Ghouta incident, the conclusion is that chemical weapons have been used in the ongoing conflict between the parties in the Syrian Arab Republic, also against civilians, including children, on a relatively large scale,” said the report by chief UN investigator Ake Sellstrom of Sweden.
“In particular, the environmental, chemical and medical samples we have collected provide clear and convincing evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent sarin were used,” it said.
Responsibility unclear
Syria and Russia have blamed the Aug. 21 attack on the rebels. The rebels, the United States and other Western powers blame forces loyal to Assad for the Ghouta attack.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 17th, 2013.
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