Sabbagh: Countries that politicize chemical file in Syria must change their destructive behavior and subversive agendas

Syria’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Bassam Sabbagh, affirmed that some countries continue to politicize the chemical file in Syria and make baseless accusations. It’s not possible to conduct an objective discussion of this file and close it in a professional and impartial manner unless these countries change their destructive behavior and subversive agendas towards Syria.

During a session of the UN Security Council on Monday, Sabbagh pointed out that Syria has repeatedly stressed that the use of chemical weapons under any circumstances and by anyone, at any place or time is completely condemned and rejected. Therefore, it voluntarily joined the Chemical Weapons Convention and fulfilled, during a record period, the obligations resulting from this join and was keen to cooperate with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to close this issue as soon as possible.

Sabbagh noted that the statements of some countries today clearly indicate that they are still deaf from hearing the truth and continue to politicize the chemical file in Syria by insisting on making baseless accusations and focusing on procedural details that should not be of interest to the Security Council.. He expressed Syria’s regret for the continued lack of balance and impartiality in the briefings of the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu, deliberately ignoring the serious measures taken by Syria and its real cooperation with the organization.

Sabbagh indicated that Syria submitted on September 16 its 95th monthly report on activities related to the destruction of chemical weapons and their production facilities. It welcomed holding a  meeting between the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates and Director General of OPCW.   Syria also welcomed the visit of the declaration’s evaluation team to Damascus to hold the 25th round of consultations, according to the date agreed upon between the two sides. The necessary entry visas were granted to the team members except for one person we asked to replace.

Sabbagh indicated that the issue of granting entry visas is carried out in accordance with sovereign national procedures and instructions that Syria applies to all staff of the United Nations and its agencies and all international organizations, including OPCW. So, not granting entry visa to one member of the declaration’s evaluation team should not negatively affect the performance of the team as a whole due to the fact that the organization has a large number of experts and specialists who can be used as an alternative to someone whose previous experience has proven to be subjective. Nevertheless, the Syrian National Committee agreed to a later proposal by the Technical Secretariat to hold a round of consultations at the organization’s headquarters in Hague.

Sabbagh clarified that the report of the Director-General of OPCW regarding the visit of the declaration evaluation team and holding Syria responsible for the inability of the Technical Secretariat to plan the missions of its various teams is inaccurate, subjective and completely rejected. Everyone knows what the Director-General said before the Security Council about postponing the visit of the evaluation team till after the summer, while Syria had a real interest in accelerating the conclusion of the discussions of this team and closing this file.

Sabbagh pointed out that some countries are still raising the issue of the two cylinders related to the alleged Douma incident, although the delegation of Syria has repeatedly made clear to the members of the Security Council the importance of these cylinders to Syria as legal and material evidence in refuting the allegations related to that incident and the possession of toxic chemicals by terrorist groups. He denouncedsome countries’ continued diverting of attention from condemning the Israeli aggression against Syria, which caused the destruction of these two cylinders, and focusing on technical and procedural aspects only.

Sabbagh said that the fact-finding mission followed wrong methods of work regarding the investigations into the alleged Douma incident and other incidents. The  mission also continued to ignore the information provided to it regarding the terrorist groups’ possession of chemical weapons and their  preparation  to use them to accuse the Syrian Arab Army.

Sabbagh stressed that the insistence of some members of the Security Council to politicize the chemical file in Syria by questioning its cooperation and their quest to veil the practices of terrorist groups that used this weapon against Syrian citizens and the Syrian Arab Army has become exposed.

In response to the American delegate, Sabbagh said that 167 countries participated in the Conference of the States Parties in OPCW last April, and therefore the 87 countries that supported the resolution passed against Syria is about half the number of countries participating in the conference. But the American delegate ignored that 34 countries abstained from voting,  31 countries were absent, and 15 countries voted against the resolution, meaning that half of the countries participating in the conference did not support the resolution. This is just an example of the method of misleading and distorting information followed by the United States.

Sabbagh added that Syria is not trying to undermine the work of the OPCW, but rather defends it and preserves its professionalism and impartiality, and stands in the way of some countries using that organization as a tool to achieve their anti-Syrian goals. It is not possible to have an objective discussion of the chemical file and close it in a professional and impartial manner unless those countries change their destructive behavior and subversive agendas against Syria.

Inas Abdulkareem