Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons does not apportion blame but says bombs were probably dropped from helicopter

Chemical weapons investigators concluded “with a high degree of confidence” that chlorine gas was used as a weapon against three Syrian villages last year, affecting between 350 and 500 people and killing 13, according to a report obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.

The third report by a fact-finding mission from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons didn’t apportion blame but said 32 of the 37 people interviewed “saw or heard the sound of a helicopter over the village at the time of the attack with barrel bombs containing toxic chemicals”.

The investigators said 26 people heard the distinctive “whistling” sound of the falling barrel bombs containing toxic chemicals and 16 visited the impact sites and saw the bombs or their remnants. The report includes a description of 142 videos and 189 pieces of material obtained by the investigators as well as photos of impact sites and the inner chlorine cylinder from a barrel bomb.

The mission was established by the OPCW on 29 April to establish the facts surrounding allegations of the use of chlorine “for hostile purposes” in Syria. Chlorine gas is readily available and is used in industry around the world, but can also be used as a weapon.

The UN security council has been intensely involved in the issue of alleged chemical weapons use in Syria, unanimously adopting a resolution on 27 September 2013 ordering Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile to be secured and destroyed.

Chlorine gas is not listed as a chemical weapon, but eight council members including the United States said in a 30 December letter accompanying the report that the resolution also states that any use of chemical weapons threatens international peace and security and must be condemned.

The 15 council members discussed the fact-finding mission’s report behind closed doors Tuesday, and diplomats said the US and other Western nations who signed the letter along with Jordan urged Security Council action in response to the findings. But Russia, Syria’s closest ally, insisted that the report on chlorine attacks was an issue for the OPCW, which polices the Chemical Weapons Convention, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because consultations were private.

Syria’s deputy foreign minister Faysal Mekdad told an OPCW meeting on 1 December that his government has never used chemical weapons or chlorine during the country’s four-year civil war, which has claimed over 200,000 people and displaced one third of the country’s population. He said terror groups “have used chlorine gas in several of the regions of Syria and Iraq”.

But US ambassador Samantha Power tweeted that “only Syrian regime uses (helicopters)”. She also tweeted that the Syrian “regime must be shown it is not enough to destroy declared CW (chemical weapons); must stop dropping chemical-laden explosives on civilians.”