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DISINFO: The West is using OPCW to throw baseless accusations at Syria

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

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West OPCW United Nations Chemical weapons/attack Syrian War

DISINFO: The West is using OPCW to throw baseless accusations at Syria

SUMMARY

The United States and its allies seek to transform the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons into a tool to achieve their own geopolitical interests.

Such positions by Western countries were particularly clear during the investigations into possible incidents of the use of chemical weapons in Syria when Damascus was held fully responsible in the absence of sufficient evidence.

RESPONSE

A recurring disinformation narrative attacking the independence and integrity of the OPCW.

According to the OPCW's director-general, the organisation has been targeted by a disinformation campaign when the organisation was being granted new powers to assign blame for chemical attacks. 18 countries issued a joint statement, which called for an end to the unacceptable Russian defamation of the OPCW.

On April 10 2018, Russia vetoed a US-drafted UN Security Council resolution that would have created a new inquiry to ascertain responsibility for chemical weapons attacks in Syria. In June, the OPCW members granted it the power to assign blame for chemical attacks.

The OPCW conducts probes into all allegations of chemical weapons use in Syria, and its findings serve as the basis for publicly available reports and expert notes.

In March 2019, the OPCW confirmed in its report that chlorine was used in the attack on Douma on 7 April 2018.

On 8 April 2020, the OPCW’ Investigation and Identification Team (IIT) has concluded in its 82-page report, that the Syrian government forces were responsible for a series of chemical attacks on a Syrian town in late March 2017.

In its report issued on October 2020 concerning Saraqib, the OPCW was clear by stating that it has based its findings on “sample analysis, data examination and witness interviews”, and “materials that were made available by the interviewees, and hospital records… including information provided by the Syrian Arab Republic and others”.

Read previous disinformation claims in our database alleging that the chemical attacks in Syria have been staged and filmed by the media of the Western countries; and other cases claiming that the White Helmets used chemical weapons in Syria in order to accuse the Assad government and that the White Helmets have falsified chemical attacks evidence, and that EU sanctions on Syria are illegal and that the US wants to divide Syria.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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