Alwaght- Syrian ambassador to the United Nations rejected claims of chlorine gas attacks by Syrian government in 2014 and 2015.
The Joint Investigative Mechanism of the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had recently accused Syrian forces of using chlorine gas weapons against rebel groups in two occasions in 2014 and 2015.
After a closed door session of UN Security Council on Thursday, Bashar al-Jafari, Syrian Ambassador to the UN said “These conclusions lack any physical evidence, whether by samples or attested medical reports that chlorine was used”.
Russia, a veto holding member of the Security Council also rejected the findings as “inconclusive” requiring more information to be gathered on the issue before any claims could be made.
“There are a number of questions which have to be clarified before we accept all the findings of the report” Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said.
In response to a call for sanctions against Syrian government by UK and France, he said “there is nobody to sanction in the report… It contains no names, no specifics, and no fingerprints."
Syrian Government declared and surrendered all its chemical weapons to the UN mission two years ago in a good intention gesture. After Khan Assal near Aleppo was hit with chemical weapons on 19 March 2013 that killed 20 and injured 123 others, mostly civilians. The Syrian government reported to the United Nations, requesting a formal investigation of the incident.