(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) PARIS, Oct 27 (KUNA) -- Syria bears full responsibility for a chemical weapons attack last April in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, when 83 people perished, and has committed "grave violations" of an agreement Damascus signed in 2013 to dismantle chemical and WMD delivery systems, the French government said on Friday.
In a statement, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian noted that a report by the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has "concluded without ambiguity on the responsibility of the Syrian regime in the Khan Sheikhoun attack" and that the information obtained shows "credible and reliable proof" of this.
The OPCW attack also pinpointed a chemical weapons use by so-called Islamic State in Um Huch in September 2016.
These two uses of WMD come after three earlier uses of chemical weapons identified by the UN Joint Investigation Mechanism (JIM) and attributed to the Syrian regime and one other earlier use by so-called Islamic State.
Le Drian said Damascus was in clear violation of UN Resolution 2118 which governed the disarmament and destruction of Syrian chemical weapons.
France will continue to work with its partners "to determine the best way to sanction those responsible for these attacks (and) to fight against chemical proliferation," the Foreign Minister said.
Le Drian heads to New York at the end of October as France assumes the President of the UN Security Council and the WMD report and issues related will be on his agenda, diplomats said.
France's Chief Diplomat said that the JIM must be allowed to continue its work at a time when Russia is blocking certain extensions to investigations on chemical weapons use in the conflict.
The JIM must be able "to continue to document cases of the use of chemical weapons now matter by whom, State actors or non-State," he affirmed.
France will work within the UN Security Council to renew the mandate for the JIM, which must take place before November 17, Le Drian remarked. (end) jk.gta
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