clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Britain, France push UN Syria helicopter ban, sanctions over gas attacks

December 21, 2016 at 7:13 pm

Britain and France want the United Nations Security Council to ban the sale or supply of helicopters to the Syrian government and to blacklist 11Syrian military commanders and officials over chemical weapons attacks during the nearly six year war.

The pair have drafted a resolution, seen by Reuters on Wednesday, that also seeks to blacklist 10 government and related entities involved in the development and production of chemical weapons and the missiles to deliver them.

The UN and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has found that Syrian government forces were responsible for three chlorine gas attacks and that Islamic State militants had used mustard gas.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government has denied its forces have used chemical weapons.

Experts from the 15 Security Council members informally discussed the draft on Tuesday, diplomats said, and Syrian ally Russia, one of five council veto powers, made clear it would not support the text.

“We hope to have a vote before the end of the year,” British UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters on Wednesday.

Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said last month that there was “just not enough material proof to do anything” and described the French and British bid to impose sanctions as a “misplaced effort.”

The UN/OPCW inquiry found Syrian government forces had used helicopters to drop barrel bombs containing chlorine gas. It found those flights came from two bases where the 253 and 255 squadrons, belonging to the 63rd helicopter brigade, were based.

The proposed sanctions list includes the 63rd helicopter brigade commander and deputy commander, commander of the Syrian Air Force 63rd air brigade, commander of the Syrian Air and Air Defence Forces, and head of the Syrian Air Force intelligence.

They could be subjected to a global asset freeze and travel ban by the UN Security Council.

Also on the possible blacklist is the director-general of the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Centre, which the draft resolution says is responsible for the development and production of chemical weapons and the missiles to deliver them.

Chlorine’s use as a weapon is banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Syria joined in 2013. If inhaled, chlorine gas turns to hydrochloric acid in the lungs and can kill by burning lungs and drowning victims in body fluids.

Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons in 2013 under a deal brokered by Moscow and Washington. The Security Council backed that deal with a resolution that said in the event of non-compliance, “including unauthorized transfer of chemical weapons, or any use of chemical weapons by anyone” in Syria, it would impose measures under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter.

Chapter 7 deals with sanctions and authorization of military force by the Security Council.