THE HAGUE, Netherlands \u2014 Syria and its close ally Russia faced harsh criticism on Thursday at a meeting of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons following an investigation that blamed Syrian President Bashar Assad\u2019s regime for a sarin attack that killed about 100 people in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At a closed-doors meeting of the chemical weapons watchdog\u2019s executive council, U.S. representative Kenneth D. Ward said that Russia \u201ccontinues to deny the truth and, instead, collaborates with the Assad regime in a deplorable attempt to discredit\u201d the joint U.N.-OPCW investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The text of Ward\u2019s statement was posted on the OPCW website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia has denounced the results of the investigation into the Khan Sheikhoun attack and vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution to renew the mandate of the Joint Investigative Mechanism, known as the JIM, which expires this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The OPCW has a team called Fact Finding Mission, which investigates whether chemical weapons have been used in Syria. The JIM was set up by the Security Council to apportion blame for such attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Britain\u2019s representative to the OPCW, Peter Wilson, said the U.N. Security Council should renew the JIM\u2019s mandate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo ifs, no buts and no skimping on the mandate. It must be able to do its job,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ward, meanwhile, said the meeting in The Hague also had to send a strong message condemning the use of chemical weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLet me be clear \u2014 inaction by this council is unacceptable, as it would severely damage the credibility and effectiveness of this organization and the Chemical Weapons Convention, and undermine the broader framework of arms control and non-proliferation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Statements issued by the OPCW\u2019s Executive Council are normally adopted by consensus, but that appears unlikely, given Russia\u2019s criticism of the investigation and its findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Western powers have expressed support for the JIM and the team\u2019s report, which also concluded that the extremist Islamic State group was responsible for a mustard gas attack in Syria at Um Hosh, in Aleppo in September 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2013, Syria accepted a Russian proposal to relinquish its chemical weapons stockpile and join the Chemical Weapons Convention. That averted a U.S. military strike in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack that killed hundreds in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Syria and its close ally Russia faced harsh criticism on Thursday at a meeting of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons following an investigation that blamed Syrian President Bashar Assad\u2019s regime for a sarin attack that killed about 100 people in April.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":102322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":13,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,13,16,26,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[349],"class_list":["post-65872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"WGI3DVOOEFFMZMWMV5LYNYLCGY","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/2017\/11\/10\/syria-russia-slammed-at-chemical-weapons-watchdog-meeting\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n