Syria: The Foreign Ministry of Syria has rejected a report by the global chemical weapons watchdog that blamed Damascus for a 2018 poison gas attack that killed 43 people, calling it “false.”

The ministry claimed that the report by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) that found the Syrian government was responsible for a chlorine attack on the rebel-held Syrian city of Douma lacked any evidence.

The foreign ministry blamed the report, stating that “it lacks scientific proof and includes false conclusions.”

In the OPCW report, investigators remarked that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that at least one Syrian air force helicopter had dropped two cylinders of the toxic gas on the rebel-held town of Douma. Weaponizing chlorine is prohibited under the Chemical Weapons Convention and international humanitarian law.

“At least one helicopter of the Syrian Tiger Forces’ Elite Unit dropped two yellow cylinders containing toxic chlorine gas on two apartment buildings in a civilian-inhabited area in Douma, killing 43 named individuals and affecting dozens more,” a summary of the report stated.

The OPCW further dismissed claims that rebels and emergency workers had staged the attack.

According to OPSW, “its team thoroughly pursued lines of inquiry and scenarios suggested by Syrian authorities and other state parties but was unable to obtain any concrete information supporting them.”

Recently, a joint statement by the United States, Britain, France, and Germany stated that “our governments condemn in the strongest terms the Syrian regime’s repeated use of these horrific weapons and remain steadfast in our demands that the Assad regime immediately comply with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and relevant UN Security Council resolutions.”

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