Syria punishment shows ‘ethical commitment’

THE HAGUE: The head of the global chemical weapons watchdog defended on Thursday the removal of Syria’s voting rights, saying it showed the body’s "ethical commitment" to eliminate toxic armaments.

Damascus and its ally Moscow both slammed Wednesday’s vote by a majority of countries at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to punish Syria. Russia and Syria said the decision, taken after an investigation found Syria had carried out three sarin and chlorine attacks in 2017, showed the Hague-based regulator was becoming politicised by the West.

But OPCW chief Fernando Arias said this week’s conference of member states had "reaffirmed that the use of chemical weapons is the most serious breach of the (Chemical Weapons) Convention there can be, as people’s lives are taken or destroyed.