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How the Security Council Failed the Syria Chemical Weapons Investigators and Victims
(New York Times) Edmond Mulet - A few weeks after an April 4, 2017, sarin gas attack on Khan Sheikhoun, Syria, which killed approximately 100 and injured at least 200, I accepted the job to lead the investigative team. A Syrian government aircraft was flying over Khan Sheikhoun at the time of the attack, a chemical bomb was launched over the town, and its residents began dying within minutes. Rigorous work in a laboratory proved that a sarin precursor known as DF that was used in Khan Sheikhoun was identical to the sarin component produced and stored by the Syrian government. On Nov. 7, I reported to the Security Council that the investigators had found sufficient evidence to identify the Syrian government as responsible for the use of sarin in Khan Sheikhoun. On Nov. 16, Russia voted against a U.S. proposal that supported our findings and would have extended the investigators' mandate for a year. By Nov. 17, Russia had cast three vetoes to block the Security Council from extending our mandate. The writer is the former head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism.