Federal Foreign Office on the second report by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ Investigation and Identification Team

Thanks to the professional and independent investigations by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the report published today on the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian town of Saraqib is an important contribution to the fight against impunity in the Syria conflict.

The report reaches the conclusion that the Syrian regime’s air force was responsible for the use of chemical weapons in Saraqib in February 2018. The OPCW has thus been able to attribute a further use of chemical weapons in Syria to the Syrian regime. We condemn these illegal uses of chemical weapons in the strongest possible terms. We firmly believe that such a blatant violation of international law must have consequences. Those responsible must be held accountable.

All OPCW Member States are now called upon to respond to these continued breaches by Syria of the Chemical Weapons Convention and to ensure adherence to it with the help of the available means it contains.