OPCW planning trip to Khan Sheikhoun, site of devastating chemical attack

A team of experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is planning a trip to Khan Sheikhoun, the small Syrian town devastated by a chemical weapons attack last month, according to UN disarmament chief Izumi Nakamitsu. She announced the plans on Tuesday morning during a UN Security Council briefing on the joint efforts by the UN and OPCW to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile.

It is not yet clear when the visit would take place, but Nakamitsu made it known that the UN is willing to provide security, citing letters exchanged between OPCW director-general Ahmet Üzümcü and UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres in the past month.

“I remain in regular contact with the director-general in order to help ensure that any visit to the site by the FFM (fact-finding mission, ed. note) team will be accompanied by the most stringent security assurances,” Nakamitsu said.

Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for Guterres, confirmed that the UN secretary general has given the go-ahead.

“Obviously if they need to go anywhere and we’re able to support them logistically, we would,” he said.

A spokesperson for the OPCW said it couldn’t provide a timetable for the planned trip due to operational security concerns.

While the OPCW panel has concluded that sarin gas was used in Khan Sheikhoun on April 4, it has yet to point out who was responsible.

The Khan Sheikhoun chemical attack on April 4 killed close to 100 people and injured hundreds more. The United States, along with several of its close allies, immediately pointed the finger at Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. The president still denies his forces were involved and suggested in several interviews that his air force hit a storage unit containing chemical weapons belonging to his adversaries. Western governments have argued that this is contradicted by witness testimony and biological samples from the site.

A few days after the attack, president Donald Trump gave the order to launch 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian airstrip as retaliation for the chemical attack.

Syria has been absolutely devastated by the war that has raged in the country since 2011. The UN estimates that several hundred thousands have died and millions of refugees have been driven from their homes.