US backed terrorist groups “have used chlorine gas in several of the regions of Syria and Iraq”, according to official. Pictured here a little girl in Syria recovers from a Chlorine gas attack by rebels forces.
According to Fars news Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mekdad said foreign-backed terrorist groups are using chemical weapons such as “chlorine gas” in their fight against the government forces and civilian population.
The Foreign Minister comment’s come after a meeting of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on Monday, Mekdad said “the Syrian government had never used such weapons during the war against the militants”, press tv reported. Al-Mekdad cited the fact that the *use of such chemical weapons is a violation of international law.
He emphasized that US backed an supported terrorist groups “have used chlorine gas in several of the regions of Syria and Iraq”.
The Syrian official’s comments emphasized what appeared to be the OPCW’s next major challenge as it fully eliminated Syria’s chemical stockpile.
UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on October 1 that the international mission to eliminate Syria’s chemical stockpile has wrapped up its operations in the war-torn country after almost a year.
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution in September last year to rid Syria of its chemical arms. Despite that reports of Chlorine gas attacks continue in both Syria and Iraq.
It should be noted that the US Department of Defense refused comment in this matter of the use of Chlorine gas by groups currently being supported by the US under the banner of the Free Syrian Army or FSA.
See related video: Chlorine gas used in Syria, OPCW investigating – ex Syrian chemical disarmament chief https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu_s2t2TZEA
See video: Syrian government says rebel faction responsible for chlorine gas attack https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61iWHWWs5ZI
There are also reports of ISIL using Chlorine gas in Iraq https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFuuehjt7Ek
See video: purported chlorine gas attack in Syria https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRxkgmkeYeQ
* Note: The Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, usually called the Geneva Protocol, is a treaty prohibiting the use of chemical and biological weapons in international armed conflicts. It was signed at Geneva on 17 June 1925 and entered into force on 8 February 1928. It was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on 7 September 1929. The Geneva Protocol is a protocol to the Convention for the Supervision of the International Trade in Arms and Ammunition and in Implements of War signed on the same date, and followed the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. It prohibits the use of “asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and of all analogous liquids, materials or devices” and “bacteriological methods of warfare”. This is now understood to be a general prohibition on chemical weapons and biological weapons, but has nothing to say about production, storage or transfer. Later treaties did cover these aspects — the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).