Syrian army used chemical weapons in 2015: UN
Truce extended in Aleppo but UN delays evacuations
AFP
AFP, UNITED NATIONS, United States: AFP The Syrian army attacked the village of Qmenas with chemical weapons in March 2015, UN experts said in a report released Friday.
But they were unable to determine who was responsible for two other chemical weapons attacksagainst Binnish in Idlib province in March 2015 and Kafr Zita in Hama province in April 2014.
The report was presented Friday to the UN Security Council.
The UN-led joint investigative mechanism (JIM) in late August reported that Syrian government forces had carried out at least two chemical attacks in 2014 and 2015 and that Islamic State jihadists had used mustard gas as a weapon.
Of the nine total alleged chemical attacks it is considering in its ongoing probe, the JIM has now attributed three to the Syrian government and one to the Islamic State group.
In its fourth report, investigators concluded that there is now sufficient information that the attack on Qmenas was caused by a Syrian Arab Armed Forces helicopter dropping a device from a high altitude which hit the ground and released the toxic substance that affected the population.
Investigators say the substance may have been chlorine gas, based on the symptoms the victims displayed.
In Kafr Zita, however, the JIM could not confirm that the Syrian army had used barrel bombs to dump toxic substances because the remnants of the device allegedly used had been removed, the report said.
Investigators also said that a canister with traces of chlorine was found in Binnish, though the container could not be linked to any of several incident locations identified. The inquirys mandates was extended until October 31 to finish the probe.
Governments in Paris, London and Washington have already called for sanctions against perpetrators of chemical attacks in Syria, including against the regime in Damascus.
But the Syrian government has been shielded by its ally Russia, which has questioned the JIM findings and said the evidence is not conclusive enough to warrant sanctions. Syria agreed to get rid of its chemical stockpile and to refrain from making any use of toxic substances in warfare when it joined the Chemical Weapons Convention in 2013, under pressure from Russia.
ALEPPO, Syria: AFP Security concerns forced the UN to delay planned evacuations from Syrias Aleppo, it said, as Russia extended a truce that was largely holding into a third day Saturday.
Moscow said it was extending the unilateral humanitarian pause in the Syrian governments Russian-backed assault on opposition-held east Aleppo until 1600 GMT. But there was no sign that civilians or rebels were heeding calls to leave, with Damascus and Moscow accusing opposition fighters of preventing evacuations.
In Geneva, the UN rights council called for a special investigation into the violence in Aleppo in a resolution fiercely critical of Syrias government.
East Aleppo, which the rebels captured in 2012, has been under siege by the army since mid-July and has faced devastating bombardment by the government and its ally Russia since the September 22 launch of an offensive to retake the whole city.
Nearly 500 people have been killed, more than a quarter of them children, since the assault began. More than 2,000 civilians have been wounded.
The scale of the casualties has prompted outrage in the West, with Washington saying the bombardment amounted to a possible war crime.
Russia announced a halt to its air strikes from Tuesday and the unilateral ceasefire from Thursday.
The Syrian army says it has opened eight corridors across the front line for the more than 250,000 civilians in rebel-held areas to leave, but so far almost none have taken up the offer.
