Western powers to press Syria resolution at UN
Western powers were poised Tuesday to press their efforts for a UN resolution to rid Syria of chemical weapons, one day after a report by the world body describing a "chilling" sarin gas attack there.
The United States had threatened a military strike on Syria over the attack, which it said killed more than 1,400 people.
Washington said responsibility for the attack rests squarely with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
"The technical details of the UN report make clear that only the regime could have carried out this large-scale chemical weapons attack," said Washington's UN ambassador Samantha Power. "It defies logic to think that the opposition would have infiltrated the regime-controlled area to fire on opposition-controlled areas."
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said there was "no doubt" that government forces were to blame, while British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the report made "abundantly clear" that the Syrian regime was behind the attack.
France and Britain will soon send a draft resolution to other Security Council members demanding a threat of sanctions if Assad does not keep to a disarmament plan and for the chemical attacks to be referred to the International Criminal Court, diplomats said.
The council, meanwhile, is expected to start negotiations this week.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon condemned the use of chemical weapons in Syria as "a war crime" as the country's conflict again spilled into neighboring nations, with Turkey saying it had shot down a Syrian military helicopter.
Ban said the report prepared by the experts "makes for chilling reading."
He added that the use of sarin had been proved "unequivocally and objectively" and that the Ghouta attack was "the most significant" with chemical weapons since Saddam Hussein unleashed poison gas in Halabja, Iraq, in 1988, killing thousands.
"The environmental, chemical and medical samples we have collected provide clear and convincing evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent sarin were used" in Ghouta, said the report by UN inspectors who were in Syria when the attack was staged.
The experts concluded that "chemical weapons have been used in the ongoing conflict between the parties in the Syrian Arab Republic, also against civilians including children on a relatively large scale."
A separate UN-mandated independent human rights inquiry announced separately on Monday that it was investigating 14 alleged chemical weapons attacks in Syria.
Ban would not say on Monday who had carried out the attack.
"We may all have our own thoughts on this, but I would simply say that this was a grave crime and those responsible must be brought to justice as soon as possible," Ban told reporters.
On Friday, he said Assad had "committed many crimes against humanity."
While the United States, Britain and France all insist that the findings show Assad's forces had used the weapons, Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said after a Security Council meeting on the report that there should be more investigation into who was responsible.
Moscow has sided with Assad in blaming opposition rebels for the chemical assault.
The UN experts' report will now become a key weapon in a Security Council battle over how much of a threat must be made against Assad to make him disarm.
The French, US and British foreign ministers called for a "strong" resolution after a meeting in Paris.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said: "If Assad fails to comply with the terms of this framework, make no mistake we are all agreed, and that includes Russia, that there will be consequences."
Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed a plan on Saturday under which Syria's chemical weapons would be eliminated by mid-2014.
Russia has agreed the plans must be backed by a Security Council resolution but rejects any move to include the threat of force into a UN text.
Lavrov said such threats could kill off hopes of a peace conference on the 30-month-old conflict in which more than 110,000 people, according to activists.
Kerry was due to meet Thursday to discuss the issue with his counterpart from China, which has welcomed the agreement but has sided with Russia in its resolve to veto any UN Security Council resolution against Syria.
Fighting has worsened in Syria as the diplomatic wrangling goes on and Turkey said it shot down a Syrian military helicopter on Monday after it entered Turkish airspace.
The Syrian MI-17 helicopter was detected two kilometers (1.2 miles) inside Turkish airspace and shot down by two F-16 jets five minutes later after failing to heed warnings, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told reporters.
"It was continuously warned by our air defense," Arinc said, adding there was no information about the fate of its crew because the helicopter fell on Syrian soil.
Arinc said Turkey has changed its military rules of engagement in response to repeated gunfire from the Syrian side.
People walk past concrete blocks that protect the Central Bank building in the capital Damascus on September 16, 2013.
United Nations experts, without assigning blame, said they had gathered "clear and convincing evidence" that surface-to-surface rockets took sarin gas into the opposition-held Damascus suburb of Ghouta on August 21.
The United States had threatened a military strike on Syria over the attack, which it said killed more than 1,400 people.
Washington said responsibility for the attack rests squarely with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
"The technical details of the UN report make clear that only the regime could have carried out this large-scale chemical weapons attack," said Washington's UN ambassador Samantha Power. "It defies logic to think that the opposition would have infiltrated the regime-controlled area to fire on opposition-controlled areas."
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said there was "no doubt" that government forces were to blame, while British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the report made "abundantly clear" that the Syrian regime was behind the attack.
France and Britain will soon send a draft resolution to other Security Council members demanding a threat of sanctions if Assad does not keep to a disarmament plan and for the chemical attacks to be referred to the International Criminal Court, diplomats said.
The council, meanwhile, is expected to start negotiations this week.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon condemned the use of chemical weapons in Syria as "a war crime" as the country's conflict again spilled into neighboring nations, with Turkey saying it had shot down a Syrian military helicopter.
Ban said the report prepared by the experts "makes for chilling reading."
He added that the use of sarin had been proved "unequivocally and objectively" and that the Ghouta attack was "the most significant" with chemical weapons since Saddam Hussein unleashed poison gas in Halabja, Iraq, in 1988, killing thousands.
"The environmental, chemical and medical samples we have collected provide clear and convincing evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent sarin were used" in Ghouta, said the report by UN inspectors who were in Syria when the attack was staged.
The experts concluded that "chemical weapons have been used in the ongoing conflict between the parties in the Syrian Arab Republic, also against civilians including children on a relatively large scale."
A separate UN-mandated independent human rights inquiry announced separately on Monday that it was investigating 14 alleged chemical weapons attacks in Syria.
Ban would not say on Monday who had carried out the attack.
"We may all have our own thoughts on this, but I would simply say that this was a grave crime and those responsible must be brought to justice as soon as possible," Ban told reporters.
On Friday, he said Assad had "committed many crimes against humanity."
While the United States, Britain and France all insist that the findings show Assad's forces had used the weapons, Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said after a Security Council meeting on the report that there should be more investigation into who was responsible.
Moscow has sided with Assad in blaming opposition rebels for the chemical assault.
The UN experts' report will now become a key weapon in a Security Council battle over how much of a threat must be made against Assad to make him disarm.
The French, US and British foreign ministers called for a "strong" resolution after a meeting in Paris.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said: "If Assad fails to comply with the terms of this framework, make no mistake we are all agreed, and that includes Russia, that there will be consequences."
Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed a plan on Saturday under which Syria's chemical weapons would be eliminated by mid-2014.
Russia has agreed the plans must be backed by a Security Council resolution but rejects any move to include the threat of force into a UN text.
Lavrov said such threats could kill off hopes of a peace conference on the 30-month-old conflict in which more than 110,000 people, according to activists.
Kerry was due to meet Thursday to discuss the issue with his counterpart from China, which has welcomed the agreement but has sided with Russia in its resolve to veto any UN Security Council resolution against Syria.
Fighting has worsened in Syria as the diplomatic wrangling goes on and Turkey said it shot down a Syrian military helicopter on Monday after it entered Turkish airspace.
The Syrian MI-17 helicopter was detected two kilometers (1.2 miles) inside Turkish airspace and shot down by two F-16 jets five minutes later after failing to heed warnings, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told reporters.
"It was continuously warned by our air defense," Arinc said, adding there was no information about the fate of its crew because the helicopter fell on Syrian soil.
Arinc said Turkey has changed its military rules of engagement in response to repeated gunfire from the Syrian side.
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