US Accuses Russia of ‘Obstructing’ Syrian Regime’s Accountability Over Use of Chemical Weapons

The headquarters of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is pictured in The Hague, Netherlands, October 4, 2018. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
The headquarters of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is pictured in The Hague, Netherlands, October 4, 2018. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
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US Accuses Russia of ‘Obstructing’ Syrian Regime’s Accountability Over Use of Chemical Weapons

The headquarters of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is pictured in The Hague, Netherlands, October 4, 2018. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
The headquarters of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is pictured in The Hague, Netherlands, October 4, 2018. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

Western countries demanded that Damascus allow the inspectors of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to enter its territories, while Washington accused Russia of “obstructing efforts to hold the Syrian regime accountable” and providing “misleading information” about chemical weapons.

Syria is under new pressure from the OPCW after it refused to grant a visa to a member of an inspection team that was set to be deployed to Damascus later this month.

During a meeting of the Executive Council of the OPCW Member States in The Hague, British Ambassador Joanna Roper stressed “the need for Syria to issue visas without hindrance or delay.”

Roper also called on Syria to “explain” the fate of two chlorine cylinders identified as evidence in a reported Syrian regime chemical weapons attack on the opposition-held town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta in 2018.

Damascus recently told the OPCW that the two cylinders had been destroyed in an unspecified attack on one of its own chemical weapons facilities in June this year.

More than 40 people were killed in the attack on Douma, which led Western countries to launch missile strikes against three suspected chemical weapons facilities belonging to the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

OPCW Director General Fernando Arias on Monday said the watchdog “noted with concern” the delays in discussions with Damascus.

He added that the regulator would not send the inspection team to Syria unless it got visas for all members.

Arias noted that Syria’s declaration on its remaining chemical weapons “cannot be considered accurate and complete” due to what he called “gaps, inconsistencies and discrepancies that remain unresolved.”

Meanwhile, Britain, the United States and other allies demanded that Russia provide clarifications on the circumstances of the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny last year with the nerve agent Novichok, according to Western experts. Moscow denies involvement in the poisoning of the Kremlin’s most prominent opponents last year.

“The Russian Federation should explain the use of a chemical weapon against Mr. Navalny on its soil, declare its remaining chemical weapons... including Novichok agents," US Ambassador Joseph Manso said in a statement.

In New York, Ambassador Richard Mills, the deputy US representative to the United Nations, said during a council session on Monday: “Despite the Assad regime’s denials, it is clear that the regime has repeatedly used chemical weapons. The OPCW’s investigation and identification team has now attributed four separate chemical weapons attacks in Syria to the Assad regime.”

The US representative accused allies of the Assad regime, including Russia, of actively seeking to obstruct all efforts to promote accountability.

He stressed that Russia continued to defend the Assad regime’s failures to comply with its obligations, by spreading disinformation and attacking the integrity and professional work of the OPCW.



Senior US Republican Demands Biden Administration Shut Gaza Aid Pier

 A US Army soldier gestures as trucks loaded with humanitarian aid arrive at the US-built floating pier Trident before reaching the beach on the coast of the Gaza Strip, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (AP)
A US Army soldier gestures as trucks loaded with humanitarian aid arrive at the US-built floating pier Trident before reaching the beach on the coast of the Gaza Strip, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (AP)
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Senior US Republican Demands Biden Administration Shut Gaza Aid Pier

 A US Army soldier gestures as trucks loaded with humanitarian aid arrive at the US-built floating pier Trident before reaching the beach on the coast of the Gaza Strip, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (AP)
A US Army soldier gestures as trucks loaded with humanitarian aid arrive at the US-built floating pier Trident before reaching the beach on the coast of the Gaza Strip, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (AP)

The Republican lawmaker who leads the House Armed Services Committee has written to the Biden administration formally demanding it shut down its aid pier off the coast Gaza, calling the operation ineffective, risky and a waste of money.

The offshore floating pier, announced by Biden in March as a response to the threat of famine in the Gaza Strip, was constructed off the coast of the enclave by the US military as a way to bring in food and other aid supplies.

The US military has been authorized to operate it until the end of July, but a US Agency for International Development official said this week that the administration could seek to extend it for at least another month.

"I urge the Administration to immediately cease this failed operation before further catastrophe occurs and consider alternative means of land and air-based humanitarian aid delivery," House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers wrote in a letter seen by Reuters.

The letter, sent to White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, has not been previously reported.

Rogers has long opposed the pier and has called in the past for it to be dismantled, but he had not previously expressed that view in a formal written letter to the administration.

His armed services committee is the Pentagon's top oversight body in the House of Representatives, and formal requests from its chairman traditionally require a response from Pentagon officials.

Aid first began arriving via the US-built pier on May 17 into Gaza, where nearly all the 2.3 million residents have been displaced by Israel's campaign against the Hamas movement.

But rough seas have damaged the pier, forcing repairs, and poor weather has limited the number of days the pier has been operational. Most of the supplies that have reached the shore have yet to be distributed by UN aid agencies which say their operations have been limited by insecurity.

"As of June 19, JLOTS had only been operational about 10 days and had only moved 3,415 metric tons onto the beach in Gaza," Rogers wrote, using the US military's acronym for the pier system, known as Joint Logistics Over the Shore.

According to US military data, as of Tuesday, 8,332 pallets had been delivered via the pier. But around 84% of them have been sitting on Gaza's coast in a marshalling area waiting to be picked up by the United Nations for distribution.

The World Food Program paused deliveries earlier this month over security concerns.

Reuters was given rare access to the US military-run pier off Gaza on Tuesday and saw aid pallets being moved from a vessel onto the 1,200-foot (370 m)-long pier as it bobbed around with the incoming waves. The pallets were then taken by trucks to the coast.

The operation is complex, involving about 1,000 US military personnel. The Pentagon estimates the first 90 days of operation will cost about $230 million.

Rogers also noted that three US servicemembers suffered non-combat injuries while deployed on the operation.

"I urge the Administration to immediately cease this failed operation before further catastrophe occurs and consider alternative means of land and air-based humanitarian aid delivery," Rogers wrote.