Syria OPCW report: Foreign Secretary statement

On Wednesday 8 April, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) released a report investigating and identifying those responsible for chemical weapons use in Syria.

The report concludes there are reasonable grounds to believe in three separate chemical weapons attacks in Ltamenah in March 2017, units from the Syrian Arab Air Force were responsible for using sarin on two occasions, and chlorine on the third. The conclusions leave no doubt that the Assad regime is in breach of its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention. Syria has also failed to comply with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2118, which demanded the complete destruction of Syria’s chemical weapon stockpile and production facilities.

This report adds to the evidence produced by previous UN-mandated investigations that found Assad’s regime to have used chemical weapons against his own people on at least four separate occasions. The UK calls all states party to the Chemical Weapons Convention, the UN Security Council, and other bodies to respond decisively and hold those responsible to account.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said:

> These appalling attacks were part of a wider pattern of sustained chemical weapons use by Assad’s regime against his own people.

> I am grateful for the OPCW investigators’ thorough efforts. The UK will continue to work tirelessly with its partners to ensure that Assad’s chemical weapons use is addressed and those responsible are held to account.

> The use of chemical weapons is an international crime, and can never be justified.