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 U.N. investigators said the deadly nerve agent sarin was likely
used in four incidents, in one case on a large scale.
The report noted that in several cases the victims included
government soldiers and civilians, though it was not always possible
to establish with certainty any direct links between the attacks,
the victims and the alleged sites of the incidents.
"The United Nations Mission concludes that chemical weapons have
been used in the ongoing conflict between the parties in the Syrian
Arab Republic," the final report by chief U.N. investigator Ake
Sellstrom said.
Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari and the opposition Syrian
National Coalition did immediately comment on the 82-page report.
The investigation found likely use of chemical weapons in Khan
al-Assal, near the northern city of Aleppo, in March; in Saraqeb,
near the northern city of Idlib, in April; and in Jobar and
Ashrafiat Sahnaya, near Damascus, in August.
As initially reported by Sellstrom in September, there was "clear
and convincing" evidence that sarin was used on a large-scale
against civilians in the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Ghouta on
August 21, killing hundreds of people.
In the final report on Thursday, the experts said sarin had likely
also been used on a small-scale in Jobar, Saraqeb and Ashrafiat
Sahnaya.
The inquiry was only looking at whether chemical weapons were used,
not who used them. The Syrian government and the opposition have
accused each other of using chemical weapons, and both have denied
it.
TOTAL 16 ALLEGATIONS
Rebels have seized all kinds of weapons from military depots across
Syria, according to the United Nations. Western powers say the
rebels do not have access to chemical arms.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon established the Sellstrom
investigation after the Syrian government wrote to Ban accusing the
rebels of carrying out the chemical weapons attack in Khan al-Assal.
Sellstrom delivered the final report to Ban on Thursday. Ban will
brief the U.N. General Assembly on the report on Friday and the U.N.
Security Council on Monday.
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"The use of chemical weapons is a grave violation of international
law and an affront to our shared humanity," Ban said. "We need to
remain vigilant to ensure that these awful weapons are eliminated,
not only in Syria, but everywhere."
The United Nations has now received 16 reports of possible chemical
weapons use in Syria, mainly from the Syrian government, Britain,
France and the United States. The experts looked closely at seven of
those cases.
The U.N. experts were from the Organization for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons and the World Health Organization.
France, Britain and the United States said the technical details of
Sellstrom's initial September report on the August 21 attack pointed
to government culpability, while Syria and Russia blamed the rebels.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government agreed to destroy its
chemical weapons arsenal after the August 21 Ghouta attack, which
had led to threats of U.S. air strikes. Syria also acceded to the
Chemical Weapons Convention.
The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution in September to
enforce the deal, brokered by the United States and Russia, which
requires Syria to account fully for its chemical weapons and for the
arsenal to be removed and destroyed by mid-2014.
The Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
has been charged with supervising the elimination of Syria's
chemical arsenal.
(Editing by Sandra Maler, Jim Loney and Mohammad Zargham)
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