Syrian Militants Used Chemical Weapons: UN Investigators
MILITARISM, MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA, SYRIA IN CONTEXT, UNITED NATIONS, 27 May 2013
PressTV – TRANSCEND Media Service
United Nations investigators say they have found testimony from victims and medical staff that shows militants have used the nerve agent sarin in Syria, which has been classified as a weapon of mass destruction in UN Resolution 687.
The UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria could not find any evidence that Syrian government forces used chemical weapons against militants, commission member Carla Del Ponte said on Sunday, Reuters reported.
“Our investigators have been in neighboring countries interviewing victims, doctors and field hospitals and, according to their report of last week which I have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of sarin gas, from the way the victims were treated,” Del Ponte said in television interview.
“This was use on the part of the opposition, the rebels, not by the government authorities,” said Del Ponte, a former Swiss attorney-general who also served as prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
The Syrian government and the foreign-sponsored militants accuse each other of using chemical weapons three times — in March once near Aleppo and second time near Damascus, and another time in Homs in December last year.
On December 17, Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja’afari said in letters to the UN Security Council and the UN secretary general that the foreign-sponsored militants could use chemical weapons against Syrians and try to shift the blame to the government.
Damascus is “genuinely worried” that Syria’s enemies could provide chemical weapons to armed groups “and then claim they had been used by the Syrian government,” Ja’afari stated.
The Syria crisis began in March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of soldiers and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.
The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.
In an interview recently broadcast on Turkish television, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that if the militants take power in Syria, they could destabilize the entire Middle East region for decades.
GJH/AS
DISCLAIMER: The statements, views and opinions expressed in pieces republished here are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of TMS. In accordance with title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. TMS has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is TMS endorsed or sponsored by the originator. “GO TO ORIGINAL” links are provided as a convenience to our readers and allow for verification of authenticity. However, as originating pages are often updated by their originating host sites, the versions posted may not match the versions our readers view when clicking the “GO TO ORIGINAL” links. This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
One Response to “Syrian Militants Used Chemical Weapons: UN Investigators”
Read more
Click here to go to the current weekly digest or pick another article:
MILITARISM:
- On Democracy NOW!--A Tale of Two Ongoing Genocides in Israel and Myanmar
- Thomas Merton on US Militarism
- Microsoft's CEO for Israel to Appear at Event Celebrating Israeli Military AI
MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA:
- The Gazafication of Lebanon: Israel Blows up Nabatieh City Hall, Kills Mayor and Aid Workers
- The World of Arabs
- Israel's Proxy War with Iran Leaves Young Children in Gaza and Lebanon Burned from Head to Toe
SYRIA IN CONTEXT:
- The End of Obama’s War on Syria
- Hoax: UK Intelligence Spun 2013 Syria Chemical Attack, Leaked Docs Show
- The US Will Strengthen Its Occupation of Syria, while Plundering Oil Resources
UNITED NATIONS:
For the convenience of the TMS readers:
– UNSC resolution 687 of 3 April 1991: http://www.fas.org/news/un/iraq/sres/sres0687.htm
– Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 (= the “Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction”)text: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~hsp/cwc/cwc.html#preamble
– Syria is not a State Party to the Chemical Weapons Convention.
– Syria became a State Party to the “Geneva Protocol” (= “Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare”)on 17 December 1968. For the Geneva Protocol, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Protocol
For chemical weapons, visit: http://www.un.org/disarmament/WMD/Chemical/
– As of 27 May 2013: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/27/syria-chemical-attack-damascus_n_3342023.html
– For “weapons of mass destrution”, visit: http://www.globalfocus.org/GF-WMDs.htm