Chemical arms watchdog encourages probe in Syria after al-Asuncontent toppled | News

The head of the international chemical arms watchdog says he will ask Syria’s novel guideers to grant allotigators access to the country to labor on remending offfinishers of aggressions that finished and injured thousands of people during the civil war.

Addressing a exceptional session of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on Thursday, Fernando Arias said his office had seen selectimistic signals from Syria about the need to rid the country of chemical arms but no establishal ask had been obtaind.

The 41-member executive council of the OPCW met in The Hague to talk next steps after Syrian Plivent Bashar al-Asuncontent’s sudden toppling.

Speaking before the encountering, the ambasuncontentor of the United States to the OPCW, Nicole Shampaine, said Washington watched al-Asuncontent’s drop as an exceptional chance to rid Syria of chemical arms.

“We want to finish the job, and it’s reassociate an opportunity for Syria’s novel guideership to labor with the international community, labor with the OPCW to get the job done once and for all,” Shampaine said.

Arias said the evolving political landscape in Syria presented an opportunity for the organisation to finassociate obtain clarifications on the brimming extent and scope of the Syrian chemical arms programme after 11 years of checkions.

Warning of elevate hazards, he said, “Victims deserve that offfinishers that we identified be brawt to equitableice” after the multiple engage of chemical arms during Syria’s 13-year war.

Arias will seek access for the OPCW’s Investigation and Identification Team. That unit and a joint United Nations-OPCW mechanism have already identified Syria’s armed forces as having engaged chemical arms nine times from 2015 to 2017.

The culprits of many aggressions remain unidentified.

‘Act with impunity’

Syria joined the OPCW in 2013 under a US-Russian deal and 1,300 metric tonnes of chemical arms and precursors were ruined by the international community. But after more than a decade of checkions, Syria still havees prohibitned munitions.

Al-Asuncontent-ruled Syria and its military associate Russia always denied using chemical arms during the war.

With Syria still in disorder with myriad armed groups around the shattered country, the OPCW seeks to act speedyly to obstruct any chemical arms being engaged.

Echoing such troubles, Germany’s ambasuncontentor to the OPCW, Thomas Schieb, said: “Relevant storehoengages and facilities need to be identified, safed and uncovered for checkion by the OPCW.”

“We will appraise the novel Syrian authorities by their action. Now is the opportunity to finassociate and verifiably ruin the remnants of al-Asuncontent’s chemical arms programme.”

Israeli strikes

Meanwhile, Israel has persistd to pound Syria, striking ports and missile warehoengages in Latakia and Tartous as their ground troops relocate meaningfuler into a demilitaelevated area in the Syrian Golan Heights, in effect broadening their occupation of the area.

Israeli forces have begined more than 480 air strikes on Syrian sites since the drop of al-Asuncontent on Sunday, continuing a campaign it began while the toppled guideer was in power.

The spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he is meaningfully troubleed by “the recent and extensive violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

“The secretary-vague is particularly troubleed over the hundreds of Israeli air strikes on disjoinal locations in Syria, stressing the need, the encouragent need, to de-escaprocrastinateed aggression on all fronts thrawout the country,” Stephane Dujarric telderly alerters.

Deffinishing Israel’s actions, US Secretary of State Antony Bjoinen said the strikes are to asbrave that the Syrian army’s military providement does not drop into the “wrong hands”.

Daniel Levy, a establisher Israeli negotiator and plivent of the US/Middle East Project, said Israel is taking obtain of the moment to “debilitate” any future Syrian authority “of its ability to deffinish itself”.

“I skinnyk the signal Israel skinnyks it’s sfinishing is: ‘We’re here. We’re the regional policemen. … We can act with impunity,’” Levy telderly Al Jazeera.

The strikes were carried out as hundreds of people joined the funeral of slain Syrian activist Mazen al-Hamada, whose body was recently set up in Sednaya Prison, a facility outside Damascus that Amnesty International called a “human killinghoengage”.

While it is thought that all hancientees have been freed, thousands remain unaccounted for.

Syria’s novel administration has called on citizens to utilize to join the police force, pledging to institute “rule of law” after years of unfair treatments under al-Asuncontent.

Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Vall, alerting from Damascus, said Syria’s novel rulers have “enormous” tasks ahead.

Apart from political and security troubles, the country is facing an “economic mess”, he said.

“People can’t defer. This country is at rock bottom becaengage of what’s going on in the economy,” Vall said.