United Nations: France urged the UN Security Council today to impose sanctions on those such as Bashar al-Assad’s regime who have carried out chemical weapons attacks in Syria.
“No crime should be allowed to pass in silence, even in exchange for honoring a truce. There can be no peace if there is impunity,” Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said.
Ayrault reminded his colleagues on the council that a UN-mandated expert report had blamed the Damascus regime for two attacks with banned chemical agents in northern Syria in 2014 and 2015.
But Assad is protected on the Security Council by his ally, the veto-bearing permanent member Russia, which has deployed military force to protect Assad from a revolt by armed opposition groups.