UN: Syrian regime used chlorine gas on civilians

The Syrian government has used chlorine gas in bombs against civilians at least twice over the past two years, according to a joint investigation by the United Nations and a chemical weapons watchdog.

{mosads}The report has not been made public yet, but U.S. officials commented on its findings Wednesday night.

Samantha Power, the U.S ambassador the U.N., called for “strong and swift” action by the Security Council in response to the report.

“When anyone — from any government or from any terrorist group — so flagrantly violates the global ban on chemical weapons use without consequences, it sends the signal that impunity reigns and it gravely weakens the counter-proliferation regime from which all of us benefit,” she said in a statement.

The report is likely to stoke renewed criticism of President Obama, who has come under fire for not enforcing his “red line” against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s use of chemical weapons.

The international team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-U.N. Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) has been looking into confirmed cases of chemical weapon use in Syria, which has been engaged in a devastating civil war between Assad and rebels since 2011.

The team was able to attribute two cases of modified industrial chlorine use to Assad’s forces, Power said.

Additionally, one case of mustard gas was attributed to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

“We expect the JIM to continue its investigation into the remaining confirmed cases, as well as any other confirmed chemical weapons uses referred to the JIM,” Power said.

According to news organizations that have seen the report, the Syrian Air Force used “makeshift weapons deployed from helicopters” that had chlorine in them in the northern province of Idlib. One was in the town of Talmenes on April 21, 2014, and the other was in Sarmin on March 16, 2015.

The investigation also found that ISIS is “the only entity with the ability, capability, motive and the means to use sulfur mustard” gas in Marea in Aleppo on Aug. 21, 2015.

In 2013, Assad signed a treaty banning the use of chemical weapons and agreed to give up the country’s stockpile following a horrific sarin gas attack killed hundreds in Ghouta.

Obama had said about a year before that that Assad’s use of chemical weapons would be a red line, which many interpreted to mean the United States would intervene militarily.

Republicans have long been critical of Obama’s handling of the issue, saying Obama’s failure to enforce his limit and made the United States look weak.

In response to the report, the National Security Council said the United States will work with its international partners through “appropriate diplomatic mechanisms.”

“It is now impossible to deny that the Syrian regime has repeatedly used industrial chlorine as a weapon against its own people in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and UN Security Council Resolution 2118,” council spokesman Ned Price said in a statement. “We condemn in the strongest possible terms the Assad regime’s use of chlorine against its own people.”

A U.N. Security Council response is likely to prove tricky, however, because Russia, an Assad ally, has veto power.

The U.N. council will discuss the report next Tuesday, according to a statement a spokesman. The report will be made public “shortly thereafter,” the statement adds.