Ambassador Sabbagh: Syria continues to cooperate with the Ban Organization to close its (chemical file).

New York-SANA

Syria's permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Bassam Sabbagh, affirmed Syria's continued cooperation with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to close its (chemical file), once again Syria's call on member states to deal with this file according to its technical nature, and not to jump to preconceived conclusions, and it also called on the technical secretariat of the organization to be vigilant. Professional and impartial.

Sabbagh said during a session of the Security Council today on the (chemical file) in Syria: that Syria has repeatedly condemned the use of chemical weapons in any place and time and by anyone and whatever the circumstances, and has always affirmed that it has never used any kind of these prohibited weapons or any materials. Toxic chemicals, indicating that the first incident of using these weapons in Syria occurred on the 19th of March 2013, when terrorist groups fired a shell carrying toxic chemicals at the Khan al-Assal area in Aleppo governorate, killing 25 people, most of them from the Syrian Arab Army, and wounding 110. There were cases of suffocation and fainting, and despite Syria's official request from the Secretary-General of the United Nations at the time to send an independent investigation team into the incident, the site of the incident was not visited, and no investigations have been conducted in this regard to this day.

Sabbagh pointed out that Syria voluntarily joined the Chemical Weapons Convention in September 2013, and ended the destruction of all its stocks and production facilities in 2014 despite the difficult circumstances it was going through. date of its entry into force for it.

Sabbagh explained that over the past nine years, the Syrian National Committee granted more than 500 entry visas to the employees of the technical secretariat of the Ban Organization, which included all the organization’s teams that worked in Syria, as it facilitated the holding of 24 rounds of consultations for the ad evaluation team, and the conduct of nine rounds of inspection for the Center for Studies and Research. It also provided all facilities for the success of the visits of the fact-finding mission team, the last of which was between the sixth and the 12th of last November, and renewed its call for the team’s commitment to the agreed work references, adherence to the provisions of the agreement, and maintaining the required professionalism and independence in performing its work, especially with regard to By collecting samples, maintaining their chain of custody, witness interviews, records and documents, and not relying on open sources.

Syria's permanent representative to the United Nations welcomed the request of the technical secretariat to visit a small group of members of the declaration evaluation team to Syria, and to conduct limited activities there during the current month, and its aspiration to conduct this visit and achieve successful results, and also welcomed the holding of high-level consultations between the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, President The National Committee and the Director General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, looking forward to convening it as soon as possible after an agenda has been agreed upon.

And Sabbagh indicated that Syria submitted its report No. 109 in the middle of last month, which included the activities it carried out in connection with the destruction of chemical weapons and their production facilities, pointing out that the report of the eighth round of inspection of the Center for Scientific Studies and Research noted the great cooperation and facilities that Syria provided to the inspection team during that round, and stressed that no The existence of any activity prohibited by the agreement.

Sabbagh reiterated Syria's assertion of the illegality of establishing the so-called (Investigation and Identification Team), given that the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons did not assign the technical secretariat of the organization a mandate to determine responsibility for cases of chemical weapons use, which means giving this team an illegal mandate, noting at the time

The same indicates Syria's continued cooperation with the OPCW to close its (chemical file), and its request to the technical secretariat of the organization of the need to show professionalism, impartiality, and member states to deal with this file according to its technical nature, and not to jump to preconceived conclusions.

Sabbagh stressed that Syria's responsible behavior and its positive dealings with the Ban Organization proves that it has nothing to hide, and that the practices of skepticism and denial carried out by some Western countries in service of their well-known political agendas will only lead to further complicating matters and obstruct the closure of the (chemical file) in Syria.

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