The regime of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad has been actively rebuilding its chemical weapons stockpile since at least 2018, Britain's ambassador to the UN told the Security Council said on Tuesday.
Barbara Woodward's assessment follows last week's release of a report from Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, in The Hague, which confirmed that the Syrian regime was responsible for the 2018 chemical weapons attack on the city of Douma.
“It’s of grave concern," Ms Woodward said of the new stockpiles.
“Yet again, we are faced with undeniable evidence that the Syrian state has used chemical weapons to murder its own citizens"
She urged the Syrian regime to destroy all stockpiles, adding: “We owe it to those who have suffered such attacks to hold Syria to account.”
When asked about Ms Woodward's assertion that his country is building its chemical weapons stockpile, Syria's ambassador to the UN, Bassam Sabbagh, said it was part of Britain's “hostile propaganda”.
The UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, repeated the need to identify and hold accountable any entity that would “dare” to use chemical weapons.
“The absence of accountability for that use is a threat to international peace and security and a danger to us all,” Ms Nakamitsu said.
She said the OPCW was preparing a new round of investigations and Syria continued to hinder them.
The OPCW investigation into the April 2018 Douma attack was conducted between January 2021 and December 2022.
The report stated that during the major military offensive aimed at removing rebels from the outskirts of Damascus and regaining control of Douma, “at least one Mi-8/17 helicopter” of the Syrian “Tiger Forces” unit “dropped two yellow cylinders” containing toxic chlorine gas, which hit “two residential buildings in a central area” of Douma.
The first cylinder “ruptured, and rapidly released toxic gas, chlorine, in very high concentrations, which rapidly dispersed within the building”, killing 43 people, the OPCW report said.
The second cylinder smashed into an apartment and slowly released some chlorine, “mildly affecting those who first arrived at the scene”.
Douma was the final target of the Syrian regime campaign to reclaim control of the Eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus from opposition forces.
The report said the Investigation and Identification Team received “credible information, corroborated through multiple sources” that Russian forces were co-located at Dumayr airbase alongside the Tiger Forces.
Bonnie Jenkins, US undersecretary for arms control, pointed out the “extremely troubling role of the Russian forces” after the attack.
“When Syrian and Russian military police denied and delayed OPCW's inspectors access to the site in an effort to set up their own state investigations, they also attempted to sanitise the site and remove incriminating evidence of chemical weapon use,” Ms Jenkins said.
Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia, said Moscow rejected “in advance" any IIT findings.
"Its destructive and politicised activity has nothing to do with the principles of impartiality and objectivity," Mr Nebenzia said.
About the time of the attack, Syria's ally Moscow claimed that the UK was responsible for staging “the fake chemical weapons attack” in Douma, as a pretext for launching a wider military assault on the Syrian regime.
Fernando Arias, director general of the OPCW, said “the work of the IIT proves that the attack could not be staged".
The UN watchdog called on Damascus to co-operate with the international community and hand over military personnel who were behind the attack.
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Mountain%20Boy
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
RESULTS
6.30pm Al Maktoum Challenge Round-2 – Group 1 (PA) $49,000 (Dirt) 1,900m
Winner RB Frynchh Dude, Pat Cosgrave (jockey), Helal Al Alawi (trainer)
7.05pm Al Bastakiya Trial – Conditions (TB) $50,000 (D) 1,900m
Winner El Patriota, Vagner Leal, Antonio Cintra
7.40pm Zabeel Turf – Listed (TB) $88,000 (Turf) 2,000m
Winner Ya Hayati, Mickael Barzalona, Charlie Appleby
8.15pm Cape Verdi – Group 2 (TB) $163,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner Althiqa, James Doyle, Charlie Appleby
8.50pm UAE 1000 Guineas – Listed (TB) $125,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner Soft Whisper, Frankie Dettori, Saeed bin Suroor
9.25pm Handicap (TB) $68,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner Bedouin’s Story, Frankie Dettori, Saeed bin Suroor
Secret Pigeon Service: Operation Colomba, Resistance and the Struggle to Liberate Europe
Gordon Corera, Harper Collins
Three ways to boost your credit score
Marwan Lutfi says the core fundamentals that drive better payment behaviour and can improve your credit score are:
1. Make sure you make your payments on time;
2. Limit the number of products you borrow on: the more loans and credit cards you have, the more it will affect your credit score;
3. Don't max out all your debts: how much you maximise those credit facilities will have an impact. If you have five credit cards and utilise 90 per cent of that credit, it will negatively affect your score.
The Kingfisher Secret
Anonymous, Penguin Books
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 4/5
EMERGENCY PHONE NUMBERS
Estijaba – 8001717 – number to call to request coronavirus testing
Ministry of Health and Prevention – 80011111
Dubai Health Authority – 800342 – The number to book a free video or voice consultation with a doctor or connect to a local health centre
Emirates airline – 600555555
Etihad Airways – 600555666
Ambulance – 998
Knowledge and Human Development Authority – 8005432 ext. 4 for Covid-19 queries
Abu Dhabi traffic facts
Drivers in Abu Dhabi spend 10 per cent longer in congested conditions than they would on a free-flowing road
The highest volume of traffic on the roads is found between 7am and 8am on a Sunday.
Travelling before 7am on a Sunday could save up to four hours per year on a 30-minute commute.
The day was the least congestion in Abu Dhabi in 2019 was Tuesday, August 13.
The highest levels of traffic were found on Sunday, November 10.
Drivers in Abu Dhabi lost 41 hours spent in traffic jams in rush hour during 2019
Indika
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