UN extends Syria chemical attacks probe

PanARMENIAN.Net - The UN Security Council on Thursday, November 17 unanimously decided to extend for another year the mandate of a panel tasked with investigating chemical attacks in Syria and identifying those responsible, AFP said.

Backed by Russia, the council adopted a US-drafted resolution to prolong the joint investigation by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) until November 2017.

US Ambassador Samantha Power said the work of the panel, known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM), was "far from finished" and pointed to reports of alleged chlorine gas attacks in east Aleppo.

The JIM has already established during its year-long investigation that Syrian government forces carried out three chlorine gas attacks on villages in 2014 and 2015.

It was the first time that an international probe pointed the finger of blame at President Bashar al-Assad's forces, after years of denial from Damascus.

Despite the findings, Russia has dismissed the conclusions as unconvincing and said no sanctions should be imposed on Syria.

Russian Deputy Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov said "Russia's skeptical position is well-known regarding the conclusions" but he added that Moscow's backing was a recognition that chemical weapons use remained a threat in Syria and in Iraq.

The JIM also found that the Islamic State group in Syria used mustard gas as a weapon in August 2015.