New York-Sana
Syria reiterated its condemnation of the use of chemical weapons anywhere, anytime and by anyone, regardless of circumstances, noting that Western countries continue to fabricate lies about Syria's cooperation with the OPCW to pass resolutions and establish illegal mechanisms in a flagrant politicization of the organization's work.
Syria's permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Bassam Sabbagh, stressed during a Security Council session today that Syria has never used any of those prohibited weapons or any toxic chemicals despite the gravity of the challenges faced by the Syrian Arab Army and its allies as a result of the crimes of terrorist organizations and their supporters, indicating that In 2013, Syria joined the Chemical Weapons Convention and cooperated with the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to dispose of its stockpiles of these weapons and their production facilities, which was accomplished in record time in mid-2014, as confirmed by the relevant OPCW reports.
Sabbagh pointed out that Syria's cooperation with the organization and its fulfillment of its obligations under the agreement were met by Western countries creating lies, launching misleading campaigns and applying pressure to pass decisions and establish illegal mechanisms such as the investigation and identification team, in a flagrant politicization of the organization's technical work and diverting it from its goals, within the framework of the perseverance of these countries In its hostile stances against Syria, pointing out that these practices turned the reports of the Technical Secretariat and its teams into an essential part of the hostile campaign against Syria, which seriously damaged the work of the organization, the credibility and reliability of its reports, and the professionalism of its staff.
Sabbagh explained that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates sent a letter on the tenth of last month to the director of the embargo organization in which it indicated Syria's position regarding the reports of the technical secretariat and the inaccurate information they contained that, over the years, constituted a pretext for bringing false accusations against Syria within the organization's decision-making bodies. The message is that despite disappointment with the wrong and unbalanced approach of those in charge of the work of the embargo organization, Syria continues positive and constructive cooperation with the technical secretariat and its teams. A letter was also sent to the Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs that included Syria's concerns about these reports and asked her to inform the members of the Security Council about them .
And on the developments of cooperation between Syria and the OPCW since the Security Council session on the fourth of last month to discuss the chemical file in Syria, Sabbagh explained that the tripartite agreement has been extended for a period of six months ending on the 30th of next June and Syria submitted its 97th monthly report on the 16th of last month The eighth round of the inspection team to the Barzeh and Jamraya facilities of the Center for Scientific Studies and Research was held between the 10th and the 17th of last December, in addition to the visit of the fact-finding mission during the period between the 28th of November and the 10th of December last to complete the investigations of the accidents that occurred in Hama Governorate in 2017, which investigations have not been completed, despite the passage of five years since terrorist organizations used chemical weapons there. The question raised here..Why is the delay in conducting investigations related to terrorist organizations such as “ISIS” and “Al-Nusra Front” using chemical weapons, and for the benefit of those who are covering this up, despite the confirmation of UN reports that it happened?
With regard to the visit of the declaration evaluation team to hold the twenty-fifth round of consultations, Sabbagh indicated that Syria welcomed the reception of the team on the proposed date and requested the replacement of one member of it. In any case, and that Syria did not obstruct the conduct of any of the past 24 rounds of consultations that were held over eight years.
The permanent representative of Syria to the United Nations said that what was stated in the last report of the Director of the Ban Organization to correct what was included in his previous reports regarding granting visas to the declaration’s evaluation team and clarifying that the issue is related to one person only and not to the team as a whole confirms the accuracy and credibility of the information provided by Syria, and that two teams affiliated with the Technical Secretariat Two visits to Syria in less than a month are conclusive evidence of the great cooperation shown by Syria with the technical secretariat of the organization, not to mention that it refutes beyond any doubt the accusations about Syria obstructing the work of the secretariat, especially in terms of not granting the required entry visas to its various teams.
Regarding the two chlorine cylinders related to the alleged Douma incident, Sabbagh affirmed Syria's rejection of attempts to cover up and divert attention from the Israeli aggression on one of the announced sites, which led to the destruction of the two cylinders, which represent material evidence, stressing that Israel's assertion of its responsibility for this aggression requires its condemnation and accountability, not for Not only this aggression, but rather all its aggressions, the most recent of which is the aggression that affected the commercial port of Latakia and its continued occupation of the Syrian Golan and the expansion of settlements there.
Sabbagh reiterated Syria's rejection of any questioning of its initial declaration or of its cooperation with the OPCW and its technical secretariat, and of its rejection of false accusations based on false information or jumping to conclusions based on formulations that could be manipulated, interpreted and presumed to be weighted without any concrete material evidence, pointing out that some issues The technicalities that are discussed between the Syrian National Committee and the Technical Secretariat are related to multiple scientific interpretations and are subject to discussion and research, a process that cannot be resolved quickly and selectively.