The warning came from a senior UN official on Tuesday, highlighting that the Syrian regime has yet to fulfill its commitment to divulge the extent and operations of its chemical program to the United Nations’ chemical weapons oversight body.
The most recent round of discussions between the regime and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) declaration assessment team occurred in February 2021. However, efforts to coordinate further talks have not yielded any success.
Despite making a promise last year, the regime has not provided the UN with the requested declarations or documents related to its chemical program. Adedeji Ebo, the UN’s deputy to the high representative for disarmament affairs, conveyed this to the UN Security Council.
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Specifically, the regime has not offered information about the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center, an entity accused of spearheading the development of unconventional weaponry. Additionally, the regime has not declared nerve agents at a facility it denies is engaged in chemical weapons production, according to Ebo.
He stressed the crucial necessity of complete cooperation from the Syrian Arab Republic with the OPCW technical secretariat. This collaboration is essential for resolving outstanding issues, particularly the unresolved gaps, inconsistencies, and discrepancies.
Ebo asserted, “The OPCW technical secretariat’s evaluation indicates that the submission made by the Syrian Arab Republic still lacks accuracy and comprehensiveness in adherence to the principles of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).”
In October 2013, the regime ratified the CWC, shortly after a chemical attack employing the nerve agent Sarin resulted in the deaths of numerous individuals in a suburb of Damascus under opposition control. In 2014, the UN concluded that the attack involved the use of Sarin.
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Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US Ambassador to the UN, contended that Syria’s decision to accede to the CWC was an attempt to divert attention from its chemical activities.
“We are now aware that the regime had no intention of adhering to the CWC and deliberately concealed its chemical weapons from the OPCW,” she asserted.
Thomas-Greenfield further stated, “Both the UN and OPCW investigative mechanisms have verified that Syria employed chemical weapons against its own citizens in nine subsequent incidents. The Assad regime has repeatedly misled the global community and the investigators tasked with scrutinizing these occurrences.”
