US Seeks UN Action on Chemical Weapon Attacks in Syria

Council diplomats confirmed the circulation of the draft, which was obtained by VICE News, late Thursday afternoon.

A draft resolution presented to the 15-member council calls on United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to present recommendations within 15 days on the “Joint Investigative Mechanism” that would undertake the probe.

The sides discussed an OPCW project, as part of which the Belarusian side will develop a specialized computer program to model situations in conditions when chemical weapons are used, said Dmitry Mironchik.

Russia’s deputy United Nations ambassador Vladimir Safronkov said the United States circulated the draft resolution at a closed council meeting on Syria’s chemical weapons.

Britain, France and the United States have repeatedly accused the Assad regime of carrying out the chlorine attacks by using barrel bombs thrown from helicopters.

In his speech, the ambassador expressed the Kingdom’s concern over worldwide reports indicating continuity of using chemical weapons by the Syrian regime, which should be held accountable, calling for a firm stance against those who committed crimes by using these chemical weapons, bringing them to worldwide trial and promptly issuing the final report of the fact-finding mission on the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

The text’s approval is hardly guaranteed, as it’s likely to face intense scrutiny from Russian Federation, the strongest ally of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on the Council.

Security Council diplomats in April met with Syrian doctors who gave graphic first-hand accounts of chlorine attacks.

Following a deadly 2013 chemical weapons attack in the suburbs of Damascus, the Syrian government reached a deal to destroy its stockpiles.

The United Nations has said that a few 220,000 people have been killed and an estimated 7.6 million are internally displaced.

The OPCW is an inter-government organization headquartered in the The Hague, Netherlands that administers the Chemical Weapons Convention, an arms-control treaty that took effect in 1997.