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French Say Assad’s Forces Used Chlorine Gas 14 Times U.N. Mediator on Syria Quits; French Envoy Says Chemicals Were Used
(about 7 hours later)
WASHINGTON — France’s foreign minister said Tuesday there were strong indications that the Syrian government had carried out attacks using chemical agents, especially chlorine, as many as 14 times in recent months, despite its promise to renounce such weapons in joining the global treaty banning them last year. UNITED NATIONS — International efforts to end the war in Syria faltered further on Tuesday as the United Nations mediator quit, citing frustrations over the moribund political negotiations, and France’s top diplomat said there was evidence the Syrian government used chemical weapons more than a dozen times after it had signed the treaty banning them.
The minister, Laurent Fabius, who met here Tuesday morning with Secretary of State John Kerry, also said that he regretted that the Obama administration had decided against using force to enforce its “red line” after a chemical weapons attack in Damascus last Aug. 21 that Western nations, led by the United States, blamed on forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. Taken together, the two events pointed to the failings of the West’s signature efforts on Syria, finding a diplomatic way out of a civil war in its fourth year — and a pact that was proudly touted as stopping the Syrian government from using chemical weapons.
France, Mr. Fabius indicated, had been prepared to use force as part of an American-led coalition, but did not want to act alone. Had such a military strike been carried out, Mr. Fabius said, “we feel that it would have changed many things.” The United Nations secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, announced that he had accepted the resignation of his special envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, who told reporters, “It’s very sad that I leave this position and leave Syria behind in such a bad state.”
His assertions about chlorine weapons came as Human Rights Watch issued a report corroborating unconfirmed accounts that the chemical had been used at least three times in recent weeks, in barrel bombs dropped by Syrian military helicopters. His departure — without even a hint of who might succeed him — signaled the bleak prospects for peace in a conflict that has claimed more than 150,000 lives and shows no signs of abating, as President Bashar al-Assad says he intends to serve another seven-year term after staging elections in June. Mr. Brahimi’s announcement came just two days before Secretary of State John Kerry and his counterparts from European and Arab nations are to gather in London to discuss the crisis in Syria, with no new or obvious path forward.
Mr. Fabius did not explain how a military strike might have improved the situation in Syria, where a three-year-old civil war continues to rage. But advocates of such a move argued that it would have blunted Mr. Assad’s ability to carry out air and artillery strikes on populated areas, improved the position of insurgents on the ground and given Mr. Assad’s political opposition more leverage in peace talks that are now all but dead. Asked for his message to the Syrian people, Mr. Brahimi said later in the day: “Apologies once more.”
Mr. Fabius’s remarks revealed a rare display of disunity in allied ranks and came as Lakhdar Brahimi, the special United Nations envoy for Syria, announced his resignation out of frustration with failed diplomacy. But there were also signs of disarray within the Western coalition on Tuesday, as France’s foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, expressed regret that the Obama administration had decided against using force after an Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack in the Damascus area that Western nations, led by the United States, blamed on forces loyal to President Assad.
The developments came just two days before European and Arab nations are to gather in London to discuss the crisis in Syria. They also come as Ahmad Jarba, the head of the moderate Syrian opposition, is in Washington for talks with senior Obama administration officials. Though an American military strike was called off when Syria agreed to give up its chemical weapons, Mr. Fabius said there were “indications” that Syria had since waged 14 chemical attacks.
The State Department had no comment on Mr. Fabius’s assertions of chemical attacks, saying the matter was being investigated by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. But American officials have said in recent weeks that they were aware of reports that chlorine might have been used in attacks more than a dozen times. “Right now, we are examining the samples that were taken,” he told reporters.
The agreement reached last year to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal does not require the elimination of chlorine, a common ingredient in many products and industrial applications, and one of the original chemical weapons first introduced by Germany in World War I. France, Mr. Fabius indicated, had been prepared to use force last year as part of an American-led coalition, but had not wanted to act alone. Had such a military strike been carried out, Mr. Fabius said, “we feel that it would have changed many things.”
But the use of chlorine as a weapon would still violate the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Syria signed last year. While France had previously indicated its chagrin over the Obama administration’s military pullback on Syria, it was unusual for France’s top diplomat to speak so frankly about it — in Washington no less, following a meeting with his American counterpart, Mr. Kerry.
The State Department defended President Obama’s decision to refrain from using force in Syria, saying that it led to the diplomatic agreement that has eliminated 92 percent of Syria’s chemical stockpile. Under a United Nations Security Council resolution that followed that agreement, Syria is obliged to destroy the whole arsenal by the end of June. Mr. Fabius’s assertions of chemical weapons use, most of them involving chlorine bombs, came as other signs pointed to Syrian government culpability. Human Rights Watch, in a report on Tuesday, said it had evidence that Mr. Assad’s forces had dropped chlorine-filled bombs from helicopters on three towns in northern Syria in April. The chemical weapons treaty that Syria signed last year prohibits using chlorine as a weapon, even though chlorine itself isn’t banned.
During his Washington visit, Mr. Fabius also consulted with Mr. Kerry on Ukraine. To the consternation of the United States, France appears determined to proceed with the sale of two Mistral amphibious assault ships to Russia. The State Department had no comment on Mr. Fabius’s assertions of chemical attacks, saying the matter was being investigated by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly I. Churkin, likewise urged patience until the investigation was finished.
In its report on Tuesday, Human Rights Watch, based in New York, said “evidence strongly suggests that Syrian government helicopters dropped barrel bombs embedded with cylinders of chlorine gas on three towns in Northern Syria in mid-April 2014.” Western officials have said in recent weeks that they were aware of reports that the use of chlorine might have occurred more than a dozen times.
While the authorities in Damascus and insurgents seeking to overthrow President Assad have accused one another of using chlorine gas, the Human Rights Watch report noted that “the Syrian government is the only party to the conflict with helicopters and other aircraft.” The State Department on Tuesday defended President Obama’s decision to refrain from using force, saying that it led to an agreement that has eliminated 92 percent of Syria’s precursor chemicals, which are used to make poison gas, and noting that it was pushing Syria to give up the rest.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, The Hague-based group that is collaborating with the United Nations in overseeing the dismantling of Syria’s chemical munitions arsenal, announced a new mission to Syria last month assigned to investigate the suspected chlorine gas use. Since the Syrian conflict began, the Obama administration has repeatedly said that it was trying to bring about a political solution in which Mr. Assad would agree to yield power and a transitional government would be formed. Critics have asserted that the talks were unlikely to work unless Mr. Assad was first weakened militarily, giving his political opponents more leverage.
Human Rights Watch said its findings were based on interviews with what the group described as 10 witnesses, including five medical personnel, along with video and photographs of debris suggesting “that government forces dropped barrel bombs containing embedded chlorine gas cylinders in attacks from April 11 to 21 on three towns in northwestern Syria.” Ahmad Jarba, the head of the moderate Syrian opposition, who met with President Obama on Tuesday, has been urging the Americans to arm select rebel groups with surface-to-air missiles. The White House has long been reluctant to take such a step, fearing that they would fall into the wrong hands.
“The witnesses consistently described the clinical signs and symptoms of exposure to a choking agent, also known as a lung or pulmonary agent, by victims,” the report said. The attacks killed at least 11 people and affected nearly 500 people. Mr. Brahimi, 80, a veteran Algerian statesman who helped negotiate an end to Lebanon’s civil war nearly a quarter-century ago, spoke to a closed-door session of the Security Council after his resignation announcement. He pointedly told its members that they needed to take steps to stop the flow of arms to both sides in the war and to address the dire humanitarian crisis, according to diplomats inside.
The three areas, the report said, included Kfar Zeita, northwest of Hama, on April 11 and 18; Al Temana, north of Hama, on April 13 and 18; and Telmans, southeast of the city of Idlib, on April 21. Western countries have faced off against Russia repeatedly in the Council; the impasse has meant that the Council has been unable even to ensure that United Nations agencies can ferry food and medicine into the country.
“Seven of 10 people interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported smelling a distinct odor in the area targeted by the barrel bombs,” the report said. “They remarked that this odor was familiar and similar to that of common household cleaners.” Mr. Brahimi led government and opposition representatives in two rounds of talks in Switzerland. The last ended without agreement even on an agenda for talks. Elections would defy one of the central premises for the negotiations: to discuss how to form an interim transitional government.
“Half of the people interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported that the explosion of the barrel bombs produced ‘yellow smoke’ or ‘dark yellowish smoke’ in addition to the usual smoke from bomb explosions,” the report said. “Such reports of an unusual ‘yellow smoke’ at the attack site are consistent with the release of chlorine gas from the rupture of industrial compressed gas cylinders.” Mr. Brahimi also told the Security Council on Tuesday that Iran, the Assad government’s staunch regional ally, had offered to help postpone elections in Syria. “It is too late in the day for that,” he told the Council, according to his prepared remarks, adding that Tehran’s other ideas could still be considered. They included a cease-fire, a new national unity government, and a review of the constitution to reduce the powers of the president.
Under the Security Council resolution unanimously passed last September, Syria’s government promised to purge its 1,100-ton stockpile of chemical munitions by June 30. But the government has missed interim deadlines in a timetable for exporting the munitions for destruction abroad, drawing increased concern by critics, led by the United States, who say President Assad is procrastinating. Mr. Ban was unusually forthright in his remarks on Tuesday, singling out what he described as the Syrian government’s intransigence in political negotiations. He also chided members of the Security Council for their inability to coax allies on the ground in the conflict, suggesting that it was a major reason for Mr. Brahimi’s departure.
Last week the United Nations official overseeing the eradication effort, Sigrid Kaag, said the last remaining batch of chemical compounds to be exported, about 100 tons, was at an airfield outside Damascus and that the Syrian authorities had deemed the batch too dangerous to transport for now because of insurgent threats. Ms. Kaag said that once the route was secured, it would take less than a week to move the chemicals to the port of Latakia, where Danish and Norwegian vessels have been waiting. “That his efforts have not received support from the United Nations body that is charged with upholding peace and security and from countries with influence over the Syrian situation is a failure of all of us,” Mr. Ban said.
Denmark’s foreign minister, Martin Lidegaard, said Tuesday that “we cannot keep on waiting forever” for the final batch and urged the Syrians to expedite the process. Mr. Lidegaard made the remarks to Reuters Television aboard the Ark Futura, the Danish vessel. Meanwhile, Russia announced that it had circulated a draft Security Council resolution that would seek to replicate local cease-fires, as the warring parties had negotiated in the devastated city of Homs, so humanitarian aid can be delivered. Russia’s Western rivals are discussing two separate measures. One would enforce a humanitarian aid resolution that the Council has already passed and that the warring parties, particularly the government, has repeatedly flouted. The second would refer the war in Syria to the International Criminal Court.
Mr. Churkin said he would reject such a referral.