Syria Reaffirms Rejection, Condemnation of the Use of Chemical Weapon or Any Kind of WMD

NEW YORK, (ST)- Louay Fallouh, the Acting Charge de Affairs of  the Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations, has stressed Syria’s firm and principled stance on rejecting and condemning the use of any kind of chemical weapons or weapons of mass destruction (WMD), because of its being a crime against humanity.

Fallouh, in a statement during an open debate on Wednesday at the Security Council on the  prohibition of WMD and measures adopted by countries to implement Resolution No. 1540, said that the most dangerous violations of the resolution No. 1540 on prohibiting weapons of mass destruction is the persistence of some countries’ governments and intelligence bodies in supporting , funding and training the armed terrorist groups and supplying them with toxic chemical materials to be used against civilians and military personnel.

 He added that “these countries are the same parties which blocked a Russian-Chinese draft resolution aiming at confronting the possession of  chemical weapons by the terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq.”

Syria has repeatedly warned against the danger of the armed groups’ possession of chemical materials and of using them as a weapon against civilians, Fallouh said, noting that the Syrian government has sent more than a hundred letters to the Security Council, the Joint Investigative Mechanism and relevant UNSC committees that included documented information about the involvement of well-known countries, mainly Turkey, in providing toxic chemical materials like Chlorine, mustard and sarin gases to be used as a weapons against civilians.

He pointed out that the Syrian government is still waiting for a decisive response or interaction with these letters by the concerned international parties.

He went on to say that the chemical weapons are actually at the disposal of the terrorists and they have used them in different parts of Syria with the support and planning of regional and international powers as to distort Syria’s image and justify attacks against the Syrian Arab army, which is fighting terrorism, and against the country’s infrastructure.

Commenting in the latest claims by western officials about anew alleged chemical attack in Syria, Fallouh said “this is part of the heinous blackmailing political and media war against Syria that is launched every time the Syrian Arab army and its allies achieve gains on ground in the fight against terrorism and every time a new round of talks on Syrian settlement  in Astana or Geneva is held.

Fallouh condemned the anti-Syria claims by the Israeli representative, stressing that Israel continues to occupy Arab territories, practice all forms of oppression against people in the occupied lands, support terrorist organizations, namely “Jabhat al-Nusra” in Syria, possess a chemical and biological arsenal, yet it enjoys a cover and protection from western countries that are permanent Security Council members.

Hamda Mustafa