Syrian Chemical Weapons Crisis: Updates, Challenges & Diplomatic Efforts | United Nations

The UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, told the Security Council that “all efforts to organize the next, that is the twenty-fifth, round of consultations” between the Declaration Assessment Team (DAT) and the Syrian National Authority “have been unsuccessful”. Briefing the Council on Thursday (07 Sep) in New York on the elimination of the Syrian Arab Republic’s chemical weapons program, Nakamitsu said, “A delegation from the Technical Secretariat met with representatives of the Syrian Arab Republic in Beirut on 22 and 23 June 2023. At this meeting, the OPCW Technical Secretariat emphasized its priority of the resumption of rounds of consultations, which would include all experts designated by the Secretariat.” The UN High Representative said she had “been informed that during the ninth round of inspections at the Barzah facility of the SSRC in September 2022, the inspection team observed several boxes containing a chemical of a dual-use nature, stored in large quantities at the facility’s chemical storage warehouse.” Nakamitsu continued, “Following the inspection, the OPCW Technical Secretariat engaged the Syrian National Authority on this matter and requested information that would allow it to assess that all activities conducted therein are for purposes not prohibited under the Convention.” Nakamitsu also told the Council that “the United Nations will continue to support all efforts to uphold the norm against chemical weapons, and to relegate these dreadful weapons to history.” She urged Council members "to unite on this issue and show leadership in demonstrating that impunity in the use of chemical weapons will not be tolerated.” For his part, the Permanent Representative of Syria, Bassam Sabbagh, said that his delegation “categorically rejects the baseless and false accusations”. He also said that the accusations “leveled by some countries with the United States of America at the forefront against my country, as the context of their attempts to cover up the heinous crimes they have committed against the Syrian people, primarily, military occupation of Syrian territory, the theft of Syria's national resources at the imposition of illegal and inhuman coercive measures.”


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