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Letter dated 3 November 2017 from the Secretary-General addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/2017/931)

I have the honour to transmit herewith a letter dated 2 November 2017 from the Director General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) (see annex). The letter transmits the report of the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission in the Syrian Arab Republic regarding the alleged incident in Lataminah, Syrian Arab Republic, on 30 March 2017.

I should be grateful if you could bring the present letter and its annex to the attention of the members of the Security Council.

(Signed) António Guterres

Annex

[Original: Arabic, Chinese, English,
French, Russian and Spanish]

I have the honour to transmit to you herewith a note by the Technical Secretariat entitled “Report of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons FactFinding Mission in the Syrian Arab Republic regarding an alleged incident in Lataminah, Syrian Arab Republic, 30 March 2017” (see enclosure).

(Signed) Ahmet Üzümcü

Enclosure

[Original: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish]

Note by the Technical Secretariat

Report of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Fact-Finding Mission in the Syrian Arab Republic regarding an alleged incident in Lataminah, Syrian Arab Republic, 30 March 2017

1. SUMMARY

1.1 The OPCW Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) was alerted to allegations of use, on 30 March 2017, of a chemical as a weapon in Ltamenah, Hama Governorate, whilst analysing information in relation to an earlier allegation in a different area of the same town. Whilst the use in Khan Shaykhun on 4 April 2017 became the main priority, additional information became available with regard to gathering facts in relation to potential use in Ltamenah.

1.2 As it was unable to visit the location of the alleged incident shortly after the incident, the FFM interviewed a variety of witnesses, including casualties and treating medical staff, and received environmental samples, including munition parts, in a neighbouring country.

1.3 The conclusions were derived from the analysis of interviews, supporting material submitted during the interview process, analysis of environmental samples, and subsequent cross-reference and corroboration of the evidence.

1.4 Given limitations in some of the evidence, the FFM has not been able to determine with absolute certainty the use of a chemical weapon. Nevertheless, sufficient facts were collected to allow the FFM to determine:

(a) the presence of sarin on samples which came from the alleged site of the incident;

(b) that casualties from that site and time period displayed symptoms and received treatment consistent with exposure to sarin; and (c) that munition parts from the alleged site of the incident were consistent with application in a chemical weapon.

1.5 Therefore, the FFM is able to conclude that sarin was more than likely used as a chemical weapon on 30 March 2017 in the south of Ltamenah.