This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/10/russia-hits-back-over-syria-chemical-attack-with-call-for-un-inquiry

The article has changed 11 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 2 Version 3
Russia calls for UN inquiry into chemical attack as Trump skips summit Russia aims to fend off US-led airstrikes with UN inquiry into chemical attack
(about 5 hours later)
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has said Moscow will table a UN resolution calling for an independent inquiry into the chemical weapons attack in the Syrian town of Douma. Russia sought to fend off looming US-led airstrikes against Syria on Tuesday, throwing its weight behind a visit by UN weapons inspectors to investigate the scene of a chemical attack that killed more than 45 people in a Damascus suburb this weekend.
The announcement came as the White House said Donald Trump will skip an upcoming summit in South America to “oversee the American response to Syria and to monitor developments around the world”. The US and its European allies have accused the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad of being behind the attack in the rebel-held area of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, but Russian officials have claimed that no trace of chemical weapons could be found at the site, and argued that the attack was staged by rebels to provide a pretext for western military intervention.
The US president is consulting his British and French allies on a potential military strike on Syria after the use of chemical weapons in the Douma, the last rebel-held area of eastern Ghouta. Syrian opposition rescue workers and medics said more than 40 people died and hundreds injured in the poison gas attack. The rising tensions and the dramatic risks of a clash between the major powers was evident in the eastern Mediterranean where Russian warplanes flew over US and French naval vessels, armed with cruise missiles.
Speaking in Moscow, Lavrov appeared to pre-empt a possible western strike on Syria, announcing that Russia would propose a “transparent and honest” investigation at the security council on Tuesday, with the involvement of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Moscow has previously insisted there was no evidence for a chemical attack. After Donald Trump hinted heavily on Monday that he was on the verge of ordering airstrikes, the US-Russian struggle shifted back once more to the UN security council where both sides promoted rival resolutions.
“If, under the pretext of a lack of security guarantees, those who employ anti-Russian arguments to pursue their Russophobic aims do not allow experts to come, then it will be a verdict on their true plans and show that they have no interest in establishing the truth,” Lavrov said. Russia proposed two resolutions, one of which was in support of a fact finding mission by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to the scene of the attack, after an invitation of the Syrian government on Tuesday. The OPCW is unlikely to complete its work for at least a week, placing some pressure on Washington to defer gathering plans for a military assault until the OPCW has reported.
The Syrian regime, which has denied any involvement in the attack, said on Tuesday that it has invited the chemical weapons watchdog to send a fact-finding mission into the country. Trump called Theresa May and Emmanuel Macron to discuss the standoff, but the official accounts of the conversation gave away few details of what if anything was decided. Meanwhile the US, UK and France are supporting a UN resolution that would recreate a UN independent body with a mandate of at least a year, dedicated to investigating chemical weapons attacks in Syria.
Western countries are likely to be wary of a Russian proposal that would give its ally, the Syrian government, an upper hand over investigations on its territory. The US is to table its own resolution at the UN on the terms of an inquiry on Tuesday. The body would “identify to the greatest extent feasible, individuals, entities, groups, or governments who were perpetrators, organisers, sponsors or otherwise involved in the use of chemical weapons”, according to a draft seen by the Guardian.
The OPCW has already set up a fact-finding mission, but will needRussian government cooperation to visit the site of the attack, which is now under Syrian government control. Russia opposition killed off a similar body – a UN-OPCW joint investigative mechanism – last November, but US officials have warned that if Moscow does not support the creation of a replacement, Washington and its allies would take matters into their own hands, based on their own conclusions that the Syrian regime carried out the Douma attack.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has called for a “thorough investigation using impartial, independent and professional expertise” and has reaffirmed his full support for the OPCW. He said international investigators “to be granted full access, without any restrictions or impediments to perform its activities”. Russia advanced a counter resolution, that would establish the new investigative body but strip it of the power of naming perpetrators of attacks. That power would be left in the hands of security council. Under the Russian variant, the Syrian government would also have more influence on the UN body’s work.
The OPCW on its own only has powers to determine whether a chemical weapons attack has occurred, but not to apportion responsibility for the attack. In a sign that Trump may be willing to press ahead with military action even though OPCW inspectors are traveling to Damascus, the president cancelled plans to travel to Peru for a Summit of the Americas, sending his vice-president Mike Pence in his stead. The US defense secretary, James Mattis, also cancelled engagements that had been scheduled for the weekend.
A joint UN-OPCW body, known as the joint investigative mechanism, was designed to attribute responsibility for chemical weapons attacks, but the body’s mandate was not renewed last year after the west and Russia disagreed on how it should operate in the future, leading to Russia to veto its continuance. As well as Trump’s consultations with May and Macron on Tuesday, the British and French leaders held a separate call of their own. Macron told reporters that the three countries would decide on how to respond to the Douma chemical attack “within days”, adding that any air strikes would target Syrian government chemical facilities.
Fresh UN discussions on a renewed JIM mandate failed in January when Russia insisted the JIM could not ascribe responsibility, but only provide a report to the security council. It also insisted no report could be valid unless it included an on site inspection by the OPCW inspectors. In London, May convened a meeting of her national security council where there is strong support from her most senior ministers for military action.
It is not clear yet whether Lavrov is willing to drop these preconditions in this latest proposal, or the terms on which the OPCW will be allowed to visit the site. The issue, discussed in public and private by diplomats at the UN on Monday, will be discussed at the further meeting of the security council on Tuesday. A Downing Street statement suggested some UK caution by continuing to state the chemical weapons attack had not yet been confirmed, and that in both calls the leaders “had agreed that reports of a chemical weapons attack in Syria were utterly reprehensible and if confirmed, represented further evidence of the Assad regime’s appalling cruelty against its own people and total disregard for its legal obligations not to use these weapons.
The potential US-led military strike on Syria could range from hitting one airbase, to a wider attempt to ground the entire Syrian air force. Russia would then face a choice about whether to go into action to protect its Syrian ally, or potentially lose control of Syrian airspace. “They agreed that the international community needed to respond to uphold the worldwide prohibition on the use of chemical weapons”.
Speaking from Brussels, Fadel Abdul Ghany, the chairman and founder of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, called for strikes on all Syrian air bases, saying an attack on a single Syrian air base would do nothing to discourage the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. A White House statement said Trump and May “agreed not to allow the use of chemical weapons to continue”.
Western capitals in discussion with the US on a possible strike will be aware of the need tobe seen to be acting with valid evidence and justification. Foreign ministers from Germany and Sweden have both urged against military retaliation for the Ghouta attack. By convention, British prime ministers cannot send UK forces into combat action without an explicit vote of MPs. May is aware David Cameron was humiliated when he lost a Commons vote to take military action in 2013 to punish Assad’s use of chemical weapons. Her leadership might not survive a similar defeat. The British Labour Party may oppose any action before weapons inspectors have formally confirmed a chemical weapons attack took place in Douma.
Meanwhile, an Iranian official visiting the site of what is widely seen as an Israeli strike on the T4 airbase in Syria early on Monday morning said the attack would not go unanswered. It is now estimated that seven Iranians were killed in the air raid. The question for May and other Western leaders is whether they decide they do not need further confirmation from the OPCW that an attack occurred, following graphic media and video reports.
In anticipation of airstrikes, the Syrian regime is reported to be moving its aircraft to the Russian base at Latakia, presumably in the expectation that they would be safe from destruction there. The US may be intent on grounding as much of the Syrian air force as possible, but will not wish to destroy Russian planes.
The US Navy has less firepower in the eastern Mediterranean than it did when Trump ordered punitive missile strikes for chemical weapons use in April last year.
Now there is only one guided missile destroyer, armed with the Tomahawk cruise missiles used in April – the USS Donald Cook which left the Cypriot port of Larnaca on Monday.
Its twin, the USS Porter, which took part in the last Tomahawk attack, is on a port visit to Cherbourg, France. Another missile cruiser of the same class, the USS Ross has just completed exercises with the Royal Navy and left Plymouth on Sunday. It would take a few days to come within range. The USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier and its battle group are due to leave Virginia on Wednesday, reportedly bound for the Mediterranean, but it would take several days to reach the Syrian coast.
However, the USS Cook is being accompanied in the area by the French frigate Aquitaine, armed with cruise missiles, which was reported in the French press to have been buzzed by low-flying Russian warplanes over the weekend.
SyriaSyria
RussiaRussia
Vladimir PutinVladimir Putin
Bashar al-AssadBashar al-Assad
US foreign policyUS foreign policy
Middle East and North AfricaMiddle East and North Africa
Share on FacebookShare on Facebook
Share on TwitterShare on Twitter
Share via EmailShare via Email
Share on LinkedInShare on LinkedIn
Share on PinterestShare on Pinterest
Share on Google+Share on Google+
Share on WhatsAppShare on WhatsApp
Share on MessengerShare on Messenger
Reuse this contentReuse this content