Chemical weapons watchdog to decide on sanctions for Syria

Chemical gas attack survivor Ismail Reslan, receives medical treatment at a hospital in Idlib, Syria on 6 April 2017 (Huseyin Fadil/Anadolu)

The international chemical weapons watchdog will decide today whether to suspend Syria for its repeated use of chemical weapons, Reuters has reported. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) concluded on 12 April that the Syrian air force used chlorine gas in an attack on the town of Saraqib in 2018.

The member states of the OPCW will evaluate a French proposal to suspend Syria’s rights and privileges at the body, including its ability to vote.

The Russian envoy to the OPCW, Alexander Shulgin criticised the move against the Syrian regime. “The accusations against Syria are far-fetched,” he claimed. “They are motivated by a geopolitical plot of those countries which are promoting their selfish agenda on the Syrian issue.”

READ: OPCW rejects US bid for Palestine’s exclusion from Prohibition of Chemical Weapons

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