ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The heads of foreign offices in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the United States are urging the UN Security Council to continue to authorize a joint investigation of chemical weapons usage by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. The statement from the four Western diplomats on Wednesday urged "the UN Security Council to maintain the JIM’s investigative capacity." The Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) concluded that the Assad regime was responsible for the use of sarin gas in Khan Sheikhoun on April 4. An extension of the JIM was vetoed by Russia in the Security Council in October. However, the report found: “There has been sufficient evidence of a credible and reliable nature to make its findings,” said Edmond Mulet, the Head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism (OPCW-UN JIM), during a briefing on 26 October. Syria's UN Representative Bashar al-Jaafari rejected the findings of the JIM, according to state-run SANA news agency. “Some UN committees, such as the Joint Mechanism, which should be neutral, professional, and credible, have proven through their work that they are biased and politicized,” Jaafari claimed. Russian UN Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov criticized the UN inquiry, saying "errors and systemic problems" needed to be corrected. “Without a comprehensive change it will become a tool to settle accounts with the Syrian authorities,” he said on Tuesday. The United States blames Russia for protecting the regime of Assad. Moscow for the ninth time used its veto powers to halt a UN investigation into chemical weapons usage in Syria. The joint US-UK-French-German statement condemned the attack. The UK, France, and United States are all permanent members of the Security Council. "We have full trust in the JIM’s findings, its professionalism and independence. The Syrian regime violated international law, including the Chemical Weapons Convention. We condemn this heinous act..." read the joint statement. The joint statement from the Western nations called it "essential" for a "robust international response" that would "hold those responsible to account, seek justice for the victims of these abhorrent attacks." The attack killed more than 90 people and hundreds more suffered injuries.
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