SNC Urges international action against Assad’s chemical weapons use
IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – Opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC) urged on Monday the international coalition to take steps against the “Syrian regime” for using chemical weapons against his own people.
This came in a statement by the coalition, shortly before the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting slated on Tuesday regarding chemical weapons.
The victims of the chemical weapons are still waiting for justice and the prosecution of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the crimes he committed, the statement read.
“The continued impunity of al-Assad regime, despite impartial reports confirming its responsibility for hundreds of war crimes, and after the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) affirmed the regime’s responsibility for using chemical weapons in areas such as Saraqib, Ltamenah, and Douma, represents a dismal failure in the implementation of international resolutions,” according to the statement.
The SNC added that reports confirm that “al-Assad regime is responsible for the killing of 1,510 individuals through the use of toxic gases in different areas since 2012.
Additionally, “thousands have suffered from choking incidents that left them with chronic health problems,” the statement added.
The coalition pointed out that with the presence of complete evidence and survivor testimonies, the responsibility falls entirely on the international community.
In its statement, the SNC called for the implementation of measures against al-Assad in accordance with Article seven of the UN Charter. This comes after al-Assad’s disregard for Resolution 2118 and his repeated use of chemical weapons against civilians, a total of 184 times, despite having ratified the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling, and Use of Chemical Weapons in 2013.
In February, The Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) of the OPCW issued a report confirming the use of the toxic chlorine as a weapon in an airstrike that targeted the city of Kafr Zeita in the northern countryside of Hama, north Syria on 1 October 2016.
In August, US Permanent Representative to the OPCW Ambassador Joseph Manso said that his country believes “the Syrian regime” has used chemical weapons at least 50 times during conflict in war-torn Syria.