The European Union supports findings of a fresh OPCW report on Syria and stands ready to expand sanctions for chemical weapons attacks, the bloc's foreign policy chief said on Monday
BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th April, 2021) The European Union supports findings of a fresh OPCW report on Syria and stands ready to expand sanctions for chemical weapons attacks, the bloc's foreign policy chief said on Monday.
Earlier in the day, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons' (OPCW) newly-formed Investigation and Identification Team (IIT) released its second report, saying that there are "reasonable grounds" to believe that the Syrian Air Force dropped a chlorine bomb on the city of Saraqib in northwestern Idlib province in February 2018. Damascus earlier repeatedly questioned the OPCW findings, viewing them as biased.
"The European Union welcomes the release of the second report of the Investigation and Identification Team ... The European Union strongly condemns the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Arab Air Force in Saraqib, the Syrian Arab Republic, on 4 February 2018," Josep Borrell said in a statement.
The official recalled that the bloc had previously imposed sanctions on high-level Syrian officials and scientists for their alleged role in the development and use of chemical weapons, and "is ready to consider introducing further measures as appropriate."
The first IIT report was released a year ago and claimed that Syrian forces dropped bombs containing sarin and chlorine on the town of Ltamenah in Hama province in March 2017.
Back then, the Syrian Foreign Ministry slammed the report as a fabrication, arguing that it was based on materials provided by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorist organization (formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, banned in Russia).
