Russia wants new UN inquiry on Syria chemical weapons use

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Russia on Tuesday urged the UN Security Council to initiate a new “professional investigation” into chemical attacks in Syria, accusing the US-led Western bloc, which blames the Syrian government for the attacks, of being “both judge and accuser”.

The Russian demand came after about two dozen countries announced a new "partnership against impunity" in Paris and pushed for sanctions against the perpetrators of chemical attacks in Syria, with US Secretary Rex Tillerson asserting that Moscow “ultimately bears responsibility for such strike.”

The Paris meeting was held a day after reported chemical weapons attack in Syria’s rebel-held Eastern Ghouta sickened 21 people, which Tillerson said was suspected to involve chlorine.

A man is seen near the remains of a rocket in Douma, Eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria, January 22, 2018. /Reuters Photo

“Nobody has requested an investigation from US, [we need] a professional investigation rather than an imitation investigation into instances of chemical weapons in Syria," Russian UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya asserted at a meeting of the 15-member UN Security Council, as Moscow circulated a draft resolution to create a new international investigative body to replace the previous UN-mandated inquiry, which he said was a “complete failure.”

"We wish to rise above these differences and to propose the establishment of a new international investigative body which on the basis of irreproachable and corroborated information received from transparent and credible sources would be able to establish evidence for the Security Council to identify perpetrators in the use of chemical weapons," Nebenzya said.

Explaining the reasons behind Moscow’s demand, the Russian ambassador said: "Once again I reiterate why do you need an investigative mechanism? Even yesterday, and today prior to any investigation being conducted you are alleging without any doubts that this is something which was done by the Syrian government. So you are both judge and accuser."

Emphasizing that Russia consistently underscores the importance of the most serious approach to the matter of production and use of chemical weapons, Nebenzya said: “We are troubled by the emergence of chemical weapons terrorism in the Middle East, which is not limited to Syrian territory.”

“Unfortunately, the JIM (Joint Investigative Mechanism) which has ceased to exist, has caused the investigation to collapse. The investigation failed. The investigation from a scientific and technical point of view was a complete failure and it became a mechanism for political manipulation," he added, referring to the previous joint inquiry of the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

The JIM had found that all the sides in the Syrian war, including President Bashar Assad’s government and the Islamic State (ISIL) militants, had used chemical weapons. But the inquiry ended in November after Russia vetoed for the third time in a month attempts at the Security Council to renew the inquiry, which Moscow slammed as flawed.

The US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, said that the Russian proposal for a new investigation mechanism is a distraction from the Paris initiative of an international partnership against impunity for chemical weapons.

“When Russia doesn’t like the facts, they try and distract the conversation. That’s because the facts come back over and over again to the truth Russia wants to hide – that the Assad regime continues to use chemical weapons against its own people,” Haley told the Security Council.

"You don't get to question the findings when they don't go your way. So we're not going to accept any Russian proposal that undermines our ability to get to the truth or that politicizes what must be an independent and impartial investigation. If they want to work in good faith toward that goal we are ready to reestablish the JIM with its original independent and impartial mandate right now, but anything less is unacceptable," she added.

Tuesday’s UN Security Council session was called by Russia following the Paris meeting earlier in the day which was also used by the US to criticize Moscow.

French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian (L) and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson vote during a foreign ministers’ meeting on the International Partnership against Impunity for the Use of Chemical Weapons, in Paris, France, January 23, 2018. /Reuters Photo

"Whoever conducted the attacks, Russia ultimately bears responsibility for the victims in East Ghouta and countless other Syrians targeted with chemical weapons since Russia became involved in Syria," Tillerson said

Asserting that Russia's failure to resolve the chemical weapons issue in Syria calls into question its relevance to the resolution of the overall crisis, the top US diplomat demanded that “at a bare minimum, Russia must stop vetoing, or at the very least abstain, from future Security Council votes on this issue."

Of the 29 countries attending the Paris meeting, 24 committed to sharing information and compiling a list of individuals linked to the use of chemical weapons in Syria and elsewhere. The list will be used to target the individuals with sanctions including asset freezes, travel ban and legal proceedings.

"The criminals who take the responsibility for using and developing these barbaric weapons must know that they will not go unpunished," said French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who chaired Tuesday's meeting in Paris. "The current situation cannot continue."

US-led strikes kill 150 ISIL militants

Fighters from the self-defense forces of the Kurdish-led north hold their weapons during a rally in Hasaka, northeastern Syria, January 23, 2018. /Reuters Photo‍

Meanwhile, the US-led coalition has killed about 150 ISIL fighters in an operation in the middle Euphrates River Valley in Syria, officials said late on Tuesday.

According to a coalition statement, the air strikes took place on Saturday near Al-Shafah, in Deir Ezzor province, on an ISIL headquarters where the militants appeared to have been "massing for movement."

"The precision strikes were a culmination of extensive intelligence preparation to confirm an ISIL headquarters and command and control center in an exclusively ISIL-occupied location in the contested middle Euphrates River Valley," the statement read.

While ISIL has lost most of the terrain they once controlled in Syria, they still remain entrenched in pockets along the middle Euphrates River Valley.

"There's still have a heavy fight going on," said US Central Command spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Earl Brown. "We are continuing to go after those guys that are trying to reestablish themselves. It's a hard fight right now."

The coalition said that the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed Arab-Kurdish alliance fighting ISIL, had assisted in target observation prior to the strike. "The combination of intelligence and continuous eyes on the target ensured no accidental engagement of non-military personnel," the statement read.

The coalition's highlighting of the SDF's role comes as Kurdish fighters in northern Syria are under assault by Turkey. Washington is treading a fraught line in Syria, on the one hand trying to maintain its relationship with NATO ally Turkey - which views Kurdish fighters as terrorists – while on the other continuing to support Kurdish ground forces that have been critical to the defeat of IS.

"Our SDF partners are still making daily progress and sacrifices, and together we are still finding, targeting and killing ISIL terrorists intent on keeping their extremist hold on the region," Major General James Jarrard said.

(With input from agencies)

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