Germany seeks accountability for Syria chemical attacks

BERLIN

Germany called for stronger efforts to hold accountable all those responsible for the use of chemical attacks in Syria.

“The Assad regime has committed war crimes time and again, including with the use of chemical weapons against civilians,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a statement on Thursday, marking the anniversaries of attacks in the Khan Shaykhun town of Idlib, northwestern Syria, on April 4, 2017 and Duma on April 7, 2018.

He underlined the important role of the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in identifying the perpetrators of these chemical attacks.

“Those responsible for the use of chemical weapons must be held accountable for their crimes. Together with many partners, we have managed to ensure that the independent experts of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons can now identify the perpetrators of these attacks,” he stressed.

Maas also called on Russia to wield its influence on the Syrian regime over the use of chemical weapons.

“Germany continues -- also at today’s meeting of the UN Security Council -- to campaign resolutely for an end to all uses of chemical weapons and for the Syrian regime to comply at long last with its obligations under international law in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention, to fully disclose its stockpiles of chemical weapons and to destroy them under international supervision,” he said.