Members of world chemical weapons watchdog vote to maintain Syria from getting poison gasoline supplies

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The annual assembly of member states of the worldwide chemical weapons watchdog on Thursday referred to as on nations to stop the sale or switch to Syria of uncooked supplies and tools that might be used to create poison gasoline and nerve brokers.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons mentioned in an announcement that its annual convention “decided that the continued possession and use of chemical weapons” by Syria, and its failure to offer the group an correct stock of its shares and to “destroy undeclared chemical weapons and production facilities,” have harmed the worldwide Chemical Weapons Convention.

The choice was backed by 69 nations, whereas 10 voted in opposition to it and 45 nations abstained.

It calls on member states to take measures to “prevent the direct or indirect transfer to Syria of certain chemical precursors, dual-use chemical manufacturing facilities and equipment and related technology.”

Syria joined the OPCW in 2013 to keep at bay the specter of airstrikes in response to a chemical assault on the outskirts of the nation’s capital.

Damascus denies utilizing chemical weapons. However, an investigative staff on the OPCW that seeks to determine forces chargeable for utilizing chemical weapons has discovered proof indicating repeated use of chemical weapons by Syria within the nation’s grinding civil warfare.

Other member nations of the Hague-based OPCW suspended Damascus’ voting rights on the organization in 2021 over the assaults.

In August, U.N. deputy disarmament chief Adedeji Ebo instructed the Security Council that Syria had failed to supply the OPCW with a full accounting of its program, citing “gaps, inconsistencies and discrepancies” in its declaration to the organization.

Thursday’s choice additionally calls on the organization‘s members to “provide support and assistance in connection with criminal investigations or criminal proceedings to national and international accountability efforts,” the OPCW mentioned.