SENATE RESOLUTION 116--CONDEMNING THE ASSAD REGIME FOR ITS CONTINUED USE OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS AGAINST THE SYRIAN PEOPLE; Congressional Record Vol. 163, No. 58

<!-- -->

SENATE RESOLUTION 116--CONDEMNING THE ASSAD REGIME FOR ITS CONTINUED

USE OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS AGAINST THE SYRIAN PEOPLE

Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. Corker, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Rubio, Mr.

Kaine, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Udall, Mr. Coons, and Mr. Gardner) submitted

the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on

Foreign Relations:

\[S. Res. 116\](https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-resolution/116)

Whereas on August 21, 2013, the Assad regime launched

rockets carrying sarin gas, a deadly nerve agent, against

Ghouta, a rebel-held suburb of Damascus, killing 1,429 men,

women, and children, according to United States Government

estimates, while injuring another 3,600 people;

Whereas, on September 14, 2013, the Assad regime agreed to

enter the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development,

Production, Stockpiling, and Use of Chemical Weapons and on

their Destruction, done at Paris January 13, 1993, and

entered into force April 29, 1997 (referred to in this

Resolution as the \\\`\\\`Chemical Weapons Convention'') and to

allow a joint mission between the United Nations and the

Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (referred

to in this Resolution as the \\\`\\\`OPCW-UN'') to oversee the

removal and elimination of Syria's chemical weapons program;

Whereas, on September 27, 2013, the United Nations Security

Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2118, which endorsed

the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons program and

agreed that in the event of noncompliance, it would take

action under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United

Nations;

Whereas, on October 16, 2013, the OPCW-UN was formally

established to investigate and destroy Syria's chemical

weapons program and stockpiles;

Whereas, on June 23, 2014, the OPCW-UN announced that the

last of Syria's declared chemical weapon stockpile had been

shipped out of Syria for destruction;

Whereas, on September 30, 2014, the OPCW-UN announced that

it had completed its mandate and officially ended operations;

Whereas on October 14, 2013, the Syria Government entered

into the Chemical Weapons Convention;

Whereas the Chemical Weapons Convention has 192 member

states and bans all chemical weapons;

Whereas, the Assad regime was subsequently accused of

committing more chemical weapons attacks on Syrian civilians

in opposition-held areas by using chlorine-based chemical

weapons, in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention;

Whereas on August 7, 2015, the United Nations Security

Council adopted Resolution 2235, which established the UN-

OPCW Joint Investigative Mechanism to identify which

individuals and entities were responsible for the use of

chlorine-based chemical weapons attacks in Syria;

Whereas, on October 27, 2016, the UN-OPCW Joint

Investigative Mechanism definitively confirmed that the Assad

regime was responsible for the use of chemical weapons in

Syria in Talmenes in April 2014, in Qmenas in March 2015, and

in Sarmin in March 2016;

Whereas, the United Nation Security Council adopted

Resolution 2319 on November 17, 2016, which renewed the UN-

OPCW Joint Investigative Mechanism mandate for one year;

Whereas, the Russian Federation, along with China, blocked

a United Nations Security Council Resolution on February 28,

2017, which would have implemented a sanctions regime against

the Assad regime for its use of chemical weapons;

Whereas, on the morning of April 4, 2017, another chemical

weapons attack took place in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in

Idlib Province, killing at least 58 people, including 11

children, according to the Syrian Observatory For Human

Rights;

Whereas Human Rights Watch reported that dozens of people

showed symptoms consistent with exposure to chemicals after

aircraft attacked the town;

Whereas the Assad regime is the only entity operating in

Syria that the UN-OPCW Joint Investigative Mechanism has

confirmed use of aircraft to launch chemical weapons attacks;

Whereas, United States Ambassador to the United Nations

Nikki Haley announced that the United Nations Security

Council would hold an emergency meeting on April 5, 2017, to

discuss the chemical weapons attack in Idlib province;

Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate--

(1) holds the Assad regime responsible for war crimes and

crimes against humanity, including its confirmed use of

chemical weapons;

(2) condemns Russia for repeatedly blocking collective

response to Bashar al-Assad's confirmed use of chemical

weapons though the United Nations Security Council;

(3) calls on the United Nations Security Council to take

immediate, decisive action in response to the Assad regime's

continued use of chemical weapons;

(4) supports the critical work of the United Nations-

Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Joint

Investigate Mechanism;

(5) expresses alarm that the continued use of chemical

weapons by the Assad regime undermines the integrity of the

Chemical Weapons Convention;

(6) reiterates that Bashar al-Assad has lost legitimacy as

Syria's leader; and

(7) insists that Bashar al-Assad must be held accountable

for his war crimes and crimes against humanity.

&nbsp;