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Syria’s new government on Friday formally requested to join the International Partnership Against Impunity for the Use of Chemical Weapons. The request was made on the 13th anniversary of the 2013 Ghouta chemical attack that killed more than 1,400 people near Damascus.
Syria and France have issued a joint statement announcing that the government in Damascus is seeking membership of the International Partnership Against Impunity for the Use of Chemical Weapons, launched by France in January 2018. In a statement, Syria announced that it would disclose any remaining stockpiles of toxic substances and that these would be handed over.
France said the move was “a clear demonstration of Syria’s commitment to strengthening accountability and justice and combating impunity”, Arab News reported. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said it would work with Syria to “achieve its objectives”.
The new government in Damascus is attempting to move in a totally opposite direction from that of ousted ruler Bashar Assad. Assad had denied any involvement in the August 2013 sarin attack on Ghouta, which killed over 1,400 people, while his government had agreed to surrender Syria’s declared chemical weapons to avert a planned US military strike. However, years of fighting had apparently led to the use of chemical arms on several occasions by forces loyal to Assad after he had handed over Syria’s chemical arms under the agreement reached with the US to avert a strike in 2013.
Since the 2013 handover of chemical arms declared by Assad’s regime to prevent US strikes, the OPCW has accused Assad’s forces of additional use of toxic arms in several incidents, keeping Syria’s file open at the international watchdog.
Today Syria has entered into the International Partnership Against Impunity for the Use of Chemical Weapons. This move by the new government is an attempt to break with the past of President Bashar Assad and look to the international community for support and to be part of the world.
While the request of the new Syrian Government to join the International Partnership against Impunity for the Use of Chemical Weapons is welcome, its fulfillment requires full cooperation by Syria with the OPCW to establish whether or not any chemical weapons remain in Syria’s possession and their disclosure and destruction. This would represent a significant step forward in the relations of Syria with the West.
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