US berates Syria at OPCW meeting on Syrian chemical attack
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Syrian authorities — “abetted by Russia’s continuing efforts to bury the truth” — still possess and use chemical weapons, an American diplomat told the international chemical weapons watchdog on Thursday.
The strong comments by Kenneth D. Ward, the American ambassador to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, came amid ongoing diplomatic skirmishes over last week’s deadly attack in Syria.
Ward used a hastily convened meeting of the organization’s executive council to launch a withering verbal attack on Syrian President Bashar Assad and his allies in Moscow.
The meeting was called to discuss the April 4 attack on the Syrian town of Khan Shaykhun that killed nearly 90 people. The United States and other Western governments blame Assad’s regime.