Russia Urges to Hold Accountable Those Behind Aleppo Chemical Attack

MOSCOW- Russia is calling for launching an investigation and holding accountable those who carried out chemical attacks in Syria, including in Aleppo, as soon as possible, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

The Syrian government sent letters to the United Nations Secretary General, the UN Security Council Chairman and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Director General to take urgent steps on investigating the incident and sending experts to the site, the ministry said, according to Itar Tass.

“It is necessary to make every effort to find and hold accountable as soon as possible those who have used toxic agents all these years to terrorize Syrian civilians,” the statement said. “No doubt, this barbaric attack against civilians in Aleppo requires unconditional condemnation and should not remain unanswered,” the ministry emphasized.

 The ministry expects that the international community, which has repeatedly stated that it is unacceptable to use chemical weapons in Syria, will respond to this attack in a proper manner. “We believe that the OPCW, as a key international competent body, which finds facts of using toxic agents, will carry out a timely and professional investigation in full compliance with the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction,” it said.

Moscow has drawn the attention of the international community many times to the attempts of militants from Idlib jointly with activists of the White Helmets to stage provocations with chemical weapons. According to information, to this aim in late October several dozens of containers with toxic agents, supposedly chlorine, were sent to the Idlib Governorate. The last delivery was carried out on October 30 to the settlements located near Aleppo.

On Saturday evening, Aleppo’s residential areas came under shelling by militants from the Idlib de-escalation zone who used shells stuffed with a toxic substance, presumably, chlorine. SANA news agency put the number of those hospitalized at 107. Terrorists were subsequently destroyed by Russian warplanes.

H.M