EU considers new sanctions against Syria for use of chemical weapons

The European Union (EU) has expressed its concern about the report of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which determines that Syrian forces used such weapons in Hama in 2017, and has stated that it will consider further sanctions in that case.

“The EU has previously imposed restrictive measures on senior Syrian officials and scientists because of their role in the development and use of chemical weapons, and is ready to consider introducing further measures if it sees fit,” Josep Borrell, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, said in a statement on behalf of the 27.

The OPCW's Investigation and Identification Team (IIT) concluded in a first report Wednesday that Syrian President Bashar al-Asad's forces used sarin gas or chlorine in at least three attacks on the Syrian city of Hama in 2017. The OPCW thus blamed the Syrian regime for the use of prohibited weaponry for the first time in nine years of civil war in the country.

Borrell said he “fully supports” the report's findings and “notes with great concern its conclusions”. “The EU strongly condemns the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Air Force,” he said, adding that “those identified as responsible for the use of chemical weapons must be held accountable for these reprehensible acts”.

He said accountability is “essential to prevent the re-emergence of chemical weapons”, whose use is “a violation of international law” and can lead to war crimes and crimes against humanity. The head of EU diplomacy said that “impunity will not be tolerated for these horrific acts”, and that it is now up to the international community to “consider the report and take appropriate action”.

From the EU, he said they are determined to ensure that “this clear violation of the core principles of the Convention receives the strongest possible response from the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention”. “The EU is committed, at the highest level, to supporting the OPCW in its efforts to implement the June 2018 decision of the States Parties to implement provisions identifying those responsible for the use of chemical weapons in Syria,” he concluded. 

The Al-Asad Government, for its part, has rejected the OPCW report and has called it a “fabrication”. “The OPCW ITI report on the use of chemicals in Latamné in 2017 is misleading and includes false and fabricated conclusions in order to accuse the Syrian government,” the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The document is said to be “preposterous” and the OPCW investigation is described as “illegal”, as it is accused of being based on “sources manufactured by Al-Nusra Front terrorists” by referring to “the White Helmets following the instructions of the United States and Turkey”. The so-called “White Helmets” are a rescue force operating in areas beyond the control of Damascus and backed by Ankara and Washington.

The document reiterates that the Syrian Army has not used “chemical weapons in Latamné or any other city” in the country and points out that the report is "another scandal of the organization and the investigation team together with the scandal of the Duma report of 2018.

The Syrian Government refers in the latter connection to the OPCW's allegation last February that two of its former employees leaked “incomplete” details about the investigation into the chemical attack in the Syrian town of Duma in April 2018.

Syrian President Bashar al-Asad has on numerous occasions withdrawn that his country does not possess chemical weapons. An agreement between Moscow and Washington led Syria in 2013 to agree to the destruction of its chemical arsenal after several alleged attacks, although the Security Council subsequently passed resolutions to investigate further allegations.