UNITED NATIONS: The US, Britain and France on Wednesday opposed a Russian-drafted UN Security Council statement that would have condemned an attack on Iran’s embassy compound in Syria, which Tehran has blamed on Washington’s ally Israel.
Press statements by the 15-member council have to be agreed by consensus. Diplomats said the US, backed by France and Britain, told council colleagues that many of the facts of what happened on Monday in Damascus remained unclear and there was no consensus among council members during a meeting on Tuesday.
“This serves as a clear illustration of the double standards employed by the Western ‘troika’ and their actual, rather than declarative, approach to legality and order in the international context,” Russia’s deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said in a post on X.
The UN Security Council has issued statements in the past condemning attacks on diplomatic premises. The European Union on Wednesday condemned the strike — saying the inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises and personnel must be respected — and called on countries to show restraint.
The US says it has not confirmed the status of the building struck in Damascus, but that it would be concerned if it was a diplomatic facility.
Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack, which destroyed a consular building adjacent to the main embassy complex, killing seven members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Iran has accused Israel of violating the founding UN Charter, international law, and also cited several conventions.
The 1961 Vienna Convention governing diplomatic relations and 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations define premises as buildings, parts of buildings and land — regardless of ownership — used for the purposes of the diplomatic or consular mission, including the head of the diplomatic mission.
Those conventions state that the diplomatic or consular premises “shall be inviolable.” But they also say the premises should “not be used in any manner incompatible” with the diplomatic and consular functions.
Iran also cited the 1973 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Internationally Protected Persons, including Diplomatic Agents — suggesting those killed were covered by these rules.
UN Security Council fails to condemn strike on Iran in Syria
https://arab.news/j9eyn
UN Security Council fails to condemn strike on Iran in Syria
- The US says it has not confirmed the status of the building struck in Damascus
- Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack
Secrecy, mines and Israeli strikes complicate removal of Assad-era chemical weapons, says Syrian envoy
- Nevertheless, new authorities made significant progress in their work with Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, he tells UN Security Council
- Syrian authorities grant OPCW experts unrestricted access to 23 sites and since October have been hosting the organization’s longest continuous presence in the country
NEW YORK CITY: Syria’s envoy to the UN said on Thursday that secrecy surrounding the nation’s former chemical weapons program, security risks from land mines and other unexploded ordnance, and Israel’s targeting of suspected weapons sites continue to complicate his government’s efforts to eliminate Assad-era chemical weapons.
Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting about Syria’s chemical weapons, Ambassador Ibrahim Olabi said the nation’s new authorities had nevertheless made significant progress over the past year in their work with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Despite what he described as “major challenges,” Syria had moved the issue “from a stage of suspicion and manipulation to one of partnership with the OPCW,” he said, adding: “Syria has achieved a qualitative leap in its cooperation with the OPCW.”
This shift is reflected in recent decisions by the watchdog’s executive council and changing positions among its member states, Olabi noted.
Syria’s chemical weapons program has been under international scrutiny since the early years of the country’s civil war, when repeated chemical attacks killed or injured large numbers of civilians. The deadliest incident occurred in 2013 in the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta, when a sarin attack killed hundreds and triggered international efforts to dismantle the country’s chemical arsenal.
Olabi said the authorities that took over after President Bashar Assad and his regime were toppled in December 2024 were confronting what he called the “heavy legacy of the Assad era,” during which chemical weapons were widely used against civilians. He described the program as an inherited burden rather than a policy of the new government.
“The chemical file is a prime example of these inherited issues, issues of which we were victims,” he added.
Syrian authorities have granted OPCW experts unrestricted access during eight deployments that included visits to 23 sites, he said, and since October have been hosting what he described as the organization’s longest continuous presence in the country.
“This marks the beginning of a sustained presence of the OPCW in Syria,” Olabi added.
Adedeji Ebo, the UN’s deputy high representative for disarmament affairs, said OPCW teams visited 19 locations in Syria last year, four of them previously declared chemical weapons sites and 15 suspected locations, where they conducted interviews and collected samples in their attempts to determine the full scope of undeclared chemical weapons activity.
Some other sites are in dangerous areas, he added, which poses significant risks to both Syrian and international personnel.
“On-site destruction may be required where conditions prevent safe removal,” Ebo said, noting that a recent OPCW decision authorizing expedited on-site destruction of weapons marked a positive step forward.
He also highlighted the reestablishment of Syria’s National Authority for the OPCW and the watchdog’s current, continuous presence in Damascus.
Olabi said Syrian national teams had identified two sites containing empty cylinders previously used to store toxic chemicals and had immediately reported them to the OPCW. Syrian authorities also handed over about 6,000 documents relating to the former regime’s chemical weapons program, he added, and helped arrange interviews with 14 witnesses, including individuals who were involved with the program.
Syrian authorities were also cooperating with international investigators examining chemical attacks by Assad’s government, he said, and accountability and justice for the victims are priorities for the new authorities.
“Syria reiterates its determination to continue the efforts to close this chapter,” Olabi said, adding that there was “no place for chemical weapons in today’s world.”
