The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Syria condemns OPCW accusations of using chemical weapons in 2017 attack

The Syrian regime yesterday condemned a report issued by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) which accused regime forces of using poisonous chlorine and sarin nerve gas in a series of attacks on the town of Latamneh near Hama in 2017.

“The OPCW released on April 8th, 2020, a misleading report for the so-called Investigation and Identification Team, to which Syria and a number of countries have announced that it is an illegitimate and unconventional team,” the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The statement described the report as “misleading” and contains “false and fabricated conclusions, aimed at falsifying facts and accusations against the Syrian government.”

“The Syrian Arab Republic condemns, in the strongest terms, what has come in the report of the illegitimate so-called Investigation and Identification Team, and rejects what has been included in it, in form and content,” it added.

The OPCW released its report on Wednesday which concluded that the town of Latamneh had been hit by poisonous chlorine and sarin nerve gas at least three times in March 2017.

According to the report, two Syrian Arab Air Force Sukhoi SU-22 jet fighters dropped two bombs containing sarin on Latamneh on 24 and 30 March 24, while a Syrian military helicopter dropped a cylinder containing chlorine on a hospital on 25 March.

A picture taken in The Hague, on June 26, 2018 shows the logo of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) during the beginning of an extraordinary session of member-states [JERRY LAMPEN/AFP/Getty Images]

Source: Syria condemns OPCW accusations of using chemical weapons in 2017 attack – Middle East Monitor