The United Nation. Security Council unanimously agreed Friday to establish a joint investigation mechanism to identify perpetrators of chlorine and other toxic chemical attacks in Syria. It is the first time the council has sought to establish accountability for such attacks in Syria.
In 2013, the world was shocked by horrific sarin gas attacks on the opposition-controlled Damascus suburb of Ghouta that killed hundreds of civilians.
The government of President Bashar al-Assad denied conducting the attacks, but did accept a Russian-U.S. deal to declare its chemical weapons stockpiles and allow international inspectors to remove and destroy them.
But despite their verified destruction, in February, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said its monitors were highly confident that the toxic chemical chlorine had been used repeatedly and systematically as a weapon.
Chlorine has been dropped in barrel bombs from aircraft. The Syrian opposition does not have any planes or helicopters, only the government. The government has repeatedly denied carrying out such attacks. On Friday, Syria's U.N. envoy repeated that denial in the council and described witness testimony about attacks by government aircraft as “fabrications.”
The United States worked for several months on the Security Council resolution seeking accountability for those who commit such attacks.
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said the new mechanism sends a strong message, “that now finally the international community has the tools to identify you — the perpetrators — and we intend to do so.”
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