Report of the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission in Syria Regarding the Incidents in Al-Hamadaniyah on 30 October 2016 and in Karm Al-Tarrab on 13 November 2016

S/1642/2018

2 July 2018

Original: ENGLISH

NOTE BY THE TECHNICAL SECRETARIAT

REPORT OF THE OPCW FACT-FINDING MISSION IN SYRIA REGARDING THE INCIDENTS IN AL-HAMADANIYAH ON 30 OCTOBER 2016 AND IN KARM AL-TARRAB ON 13 NOVEMBER 2016

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1.1 At its Forty-Eighth Meeting, the OPCW Executive Council (hereinafter “the Council”) adopted a decision entitled “Reports of the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission in Syria” (EC-M-48/DEC.1, dated 4 February 2015) in which, inter alia, it requested the Director-General to provide to the Council at its next regular session information on the progress of the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission in Syria (FFM) and on specific plans, schedules, and their implementation. In response to that request, the OPCW Technical Secretariat (hereinafter “the Secretariat”) submitted a Note to address the future activities of the FFM (S/1255/2015*, dated 10 March 2015 and Add.1, dated 13 March 2015).

1.2 The Secretariat received from the Syrian Arab Republic note verbale No. 109 (dated 17 November 2016) containing correspondence No. 259 (dated 16 November 2016) providing information regarding several incidents reported to have occurred in the Aleppo residential neighbourhoods of “Al-Hamadaniyah” and “Dahiyat al-Assad” on 31 October 2016; in “Manian located to the west of the city of Aleppo” on 3 November 2016; and in Karm al-Tarrab, also referred to as “Al-Nayrab located to the west of the city of Aleppo” on 13 November 2016. Note verbale No. 109 requested that the FFM take action.

1.3 The Secretariat also received note verbale No. 113 (dated 29 November 2016) containing correspondence No. 9551 (dated 29 November 2016) referring to incidents in the “1070 Apartments Project in the Al-Hamadaniyah area in the south-west of Aleppo City” on 31 October 2016; and in “Maarata near the village of Um-Housh in the suburb of Aleppo” on 16 September 2016.

1.4 These notes verbales form the basis of the deployments of the FFM between December 2016 and April 2018 in regard to a number of incidents.

1.5 The Director-General subsequently dispatched the FFM to collect facts pertinent to the reported incidents. The FFM team deployed on five occasions to gather facts and retrieve samples in connection with the incidents. The team was composed of OPCW inspectors and qualified interpreters. During these deployments, the FFM conducted interviews, collected testimonies, and reviewed documents and other information provided by the authorities of the Syrian Arab Republic. Furthermore, the FFM visited the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) in Barzi to conduct a technical exploitation of one item and to secure and recover samples for analysis at the OPCW Laboratory.

1.6 This report details only the incidents in the neighbourhood of Al-Hamadaniyah on 30 October 2016, which was reported to have occurred on 31 October 2016, and in the area of Karm al-Tarrab, also referred to as Al-Nayrab, on 13 November 2016.

1.7 On the basis of the information received and analysed, the prevailing narrative of the interviews, and the results of the laboratory analyses, the FFM cannot confidently determine whether or not a specific chemical was used as a weapon in the incidents that took place in the neighbourhood of Al-Hamadaniyah on 30 October 2016 and in the area of Karm al-Tarrab on 13 November 2016. The FFM is of the view that the persons affected in the reported incidents may, in some instances, have been exposed to some type of non-persistent, irritating substance.