KSA demands action against Assad’s chemical weapons



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  DESTRUCTION: Bashar Assad’s forces have been accused of using chemical weapons against civilians in Syria during the cease-fire
  

ARAB NEWS

JEDDAH: There is increasing evidence that the Syrian regime is still using chemical weapons, the Kingdom has claimed at the 18th session of the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) currently underway in The Hague.
In a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency, the Kingdom stated that samples taken in previously unreported locations in Syria showed that the regime was using Sarin and VX nerve agent. The four-day OPCW meeting ends today.
The government stated that the “use of chemical weapons under any circumstances is something that cannot be tolerated. It is unacceptable, and should be condemned in the strongest terms because it is contrary to international ethical and legal standards.”
The government urged the OPCW secretariat to gain access to information that would clarify the Syrian regime’s “contradictory statements.”
It said that Saudi Arabia was a signatory to the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
The government stated that it wants to ensure a total ban on the use of all such weapons across the world.
It has been at the forefront of efforts to achieve this by organizing several workshops and awareness courses in collaboration with international organizations including those affiliated to the UN, which is seeking to ban chemical, biological and nuclear weapons ... to prevent terrorist and criminal groups from gaining access to them.”
“There is no doubt that the failure to completely destroy stockpiles of chemical weapons is an issue of concern to everyone. The destruction of these weapons will be a turning point in the history of the organization,” the government stated.
It said that the OPCW should take action to destroy stockpiles of chemical weapons in Libya, to prevent them falling into the hands of terrorists who could use them against innocent civilians.
The government said that the Kingdom recently donated funds to the OPCW’s Scientific Advisory Board to support its activities.