NEW YORK: There are “reasonable grounds” to believe the Syrian Arab Air Force was responsible for a chemical weapons attack on Douma almost five years ago, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said on Friday.
Its Investigation and Identification Team, which is responsible for identifying the perpetrators of such attacks in Syria, concluded that on the evening of April 7, 2018, at least one helicopter belonging to the elite Syrian “Tiger Forces” unit dropped two yellow cylinders filled with toxic chlorine gas onto two residential buildings in the city.
Fernando Arias, the OPCW’s director-general, said: “The world now knows the facts — it is up to the international community to take action, at the OPCW and beyond.”
The Douma attack resulted in the confirmed deaths of 43 identified civilians. Some estimates put the true death toll at 50. At least 100 people were injured.
The IIT said that it reached its conclusion on the basis of “reasonable grounds,” which is the standard of proof consistently adopted by international fact-finding bodies and commissions of inquiry.
The IIT report, the team’s third, said that investigators, analysts and several external independent experts scrutinized the physical evidence of the attack, which included environmental and biomedical samples, witness statements and other verified data, such as forensic analyzes and satellite images.
The OPCW said: “The IIT considered a range of possible scenarios and tested their validity against the evidence they gathered and analyzed to reach their conclusion: That the Syrian Arab Air Forces are the perpetrators of this attack.”
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told Arab News: “It’s sad that in the 21st century we need to repeat this, but the use of chemical weapons anywhere, by anyone, under any circumstances is intolerable.
“Impunity for the use of chemical weapons is also unacceptable and it’s imperative that those who have used chemical weapons are identified and held accountable.”
He reiterated calls for the full implementation of Security Council Resolution 2118, which was unanimously adopted in September 2013 after a UN investigation confirmed the use of chemical weapons against civilians in a Damascus suburb the previous month. Images of the victims, including children, suffocating after breathing in a nerve agent caused outrage worldwide.
The resolution called on the Syrian regime to destroy its stockpiles of chemical weapons by mid-2014 and set out punitive measures in the event of non-compliance. It also banned Syrian authorities from using, developing, producing, acquiring, stockpiling or retaining any chemical weapons, or transferring them to other states or non-state actors.
In October 2013, the Syria regime submitted to the OPCW a formal initial declaration of its chemical weapons program, including a plan for the destruction of stockpiles.
Almost 10 years later, the UN’s disarmament chief, Izumi Nakamitsu, continues to assert that the regime’s declaration cannot be considered accurate or complete. She said “gaps, inconsistencies
and discrepancies” were identified that continue to cast doubt on the true extent of the destruction of chemical weapons by the regime.
Dujarric called on the Syrian government to cooperate fully with the OPCW. The organization has for months complained that its attempts to schedule talks in Damascus about the issue have been blocked by the “continued refusal” of Syrian authorities to issue an entry visa for one member of its Declaration Assessment Team. The Syrian government accuses the team of being biased and unprofessional.
Dujarric reiterated the full support of the UN for “the integrity, the professionalism, the impartiality, the objectivity and the independence of the work of the OPCW.”
The IIT is a fact-finding entity, not a prosecutorial or judicial body, and does not make recommendations for future action, which is an issue for the policy-making bodies of the OPCW.
Syrian regime guilty of chemical attack on Douma, weapons watchdog concludes
https://arab.news/c3w87
Syrian regime guilty of chemical attack on Douma, weapons watchdog concludes
- Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said it is up to the international community to take action over the 2018 attack in which 50 people died
- Stephane Dujarric once again called on the Syrian government to fully comply with Security Council Resolution 2118 and destroy its chemical weapons stockpiles
What’s next for the Gaza ceasefire and will the truce last?
- Many Israelis and Palestinians suspect the Trump plan will never be fully realized and that the current frozen conflict will continue indefinitely
GAZA: More than two months after Israel and Hamas agreed a ceasefire halting two years of devastating warfare in Gaza, most fighting has stopped. However, both sides accuse each other of major breaches of the deal and look no closer to accepting the much more difficult steps envisaged for the next phase.
Ceasefire steps are outlined in three different documents. The most detailed is a 20-point plan issued by US President Donald Trump in September for an initial truce followed by steps toward a wider peace. It ultimately calls for Hamas to disarm and have no governing role in Gaza and for Israel to pull out of the territory. The sides have not fully agreed to everything in it.
On October 9 Israel and Hamas did sign a more limited ceasefire deal involving only the first parts of Trump’s plan – a hostage and prisoner release, a halt to warfare, partial Israeli withdrawal and a surge in aid. The Trump plan was then endorsed by a third document, a United Nations Security Council resolution that also authorized a transitional governing body and international stabilization force in Gaza.
All 20 remaining living hostages were returned, as well as hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Returning dead hostages has taken longer, with one body remaining in Gaza and 27 returned. Palestinian bodies have been returned in exchange for each Israeli body. There’s a dispute over aid. Hamas says fewer trucks are entering Gaza than was agreed. Aid agencies say there is far less aid than required, and that Israel is blocking many necessary items from coming in. Israel denies that and says it is abiding by its obligations under the truce.
The Rafah border crossing into Egypt was meant to be opened in the first phase of the ceasefire. It remains closed and Israel has said it will only be opened for Palestinians entering and leaving Gaza when the body of the last hostage is returned. Gaza remains in ruins, with residents pulling bars from the rubble to construct tents. The UN children’s agency said in December that a “shockingly high” number of Gazan children were still acutely malnourished, while heavy rain has flooded thousands of tents and swept sewage and garbage across the territory, adding to a health crisis.
Some violence has continued. Palestinian militants have launched attacks on Israeli forces in Gaza, killing at least three. Israeli fire at people near the demarcation line, and during operations that Israel says are targeting Hamas, has killed around 400 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.
An international stabilization force is supposed to ensure security and peace inside Gaza but its composition, role and mandate are all up in the air.
Indonesia and Pakistan may play a role. Israel wants any such force to disarm Hamas, a job few countries would relish handing their troops.
A technocratic Palestinian body without Hamas representation is meant to govern for a transitional period but there have been no public announcements about how or when it will be formed. The Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, is supposed to carry out unspecified reforms before ultimately taking a role in Gaza. But these have not been announced either.
The Gaza government should be overseen by an international Board of Peace chaired by Trump. He has said this will be announced early in 2026 but its composition remains unclear. Under the Trump plan, Hamas is meant to disarm but the group has not agreed to that, saying it will only give up its weapons once there is a Palestinian state. Further Israeli pullbacks within Gaza are tied to disarmament.
WILL THE CEASEFIRE LAST?
Israel has repeatedly indicated that if Hamas is not disarmed peacefully, it will resume military action to make it do so, though a return to full-blown war does not look close.
However, many Israelis and Palestinians suspect the Trump plan will never be fully realized and that the current frozen conflict will continue indefinitely.
Israelis fear Hamas could rearm and threaten another attack like that of October 7, 2023.
Palestinians fear Israel will never finish pulling out of Gaza or allow full reconstruction, leaving the territory in ruins and its people without a future. Military deployments and construction plans point to a possible de facto partition of the enclave into a zone directly controlled by Israel where it has been cultivating anti Hamas groups, and a Hamas-held area without reconstruction or services.
WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF LONG-TERM PEACE?
Israelis and Palestinians have rarely trusted each other less and the two-state solution, seen by most countries as the best chance of a lasting peace, has never looked so remote — despite growing international recognition for a Palestinian state.
The Trump plan recognizes self-determination and statehood as the aspiration of the Palestinian people but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly ruled this out.
Elections are due in Israel in 2026 but there is no indication that any potential new government would accept Palestinian independence.
