Syria calls for eliminating weapons of mass destruction as they pose threat to world peace and security

New York, SANA- Permanent Representative of Syria to the United Nations, Bassam Sabbagh, said that Syria reiterates importance of eliminating all the chemical weapons in the Middle East as they pose threat to the international and regional security and stability.

Sabbagh added in a Security council session that Syria condemns the use of chemical weapons by any one , anywhere , and under any circumstance.

He affirmed that Syria will continue its cooperation with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and regrets attempts by some sides to distort the image of this cooperation.

“Last week Syria effectively participated in the second round of the Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction based on its deep belief in the importance of eliminating mass destruction weapons that pose threat to the international and regional peace and security, and stressed the importance of the participation of the five nuclear-weapon states (NWS) in this conference as observers due to their essential role in the consultations that aim at establishing this zone”, Sabbagh added .

Sabbagh clarified that Syria welcomed the visit of Declaration Assessment Team (DAT) to Damascus to hold the 25th consultations round according to the date agreed upon by the two sides and visas were granted for the team members except for one who has proved to be non- objective.

He affirmed that the information included in the initial declaration and the related recent ones are complete and accurate , adding that Syria is ready to work transparently with ( DAT) and to provide the related clarifications and at the same time it categorically rejects any questioning to it.

In response to representatives of the member states ,Sabbagh said that those who raise the issue of accountability in their statements use the noble justice values in service of politicized targets as the case with OPCW, adding that the simplest factors of the accountability requires them to keep  away from selectivity that serves only their schemes.

Baraa Ali / Mazen Eyon