UNITED NATIONS:The head of the Arab League exchanged a warm handshake Friday at the UnitedNations with the foreign minister of Syria, which has been suspended from thebody since 2011. The exchange between Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the secretary generalof the Arab League, and Foreign Minister Walid Muallem appeared to be brief andimpromptu during the annual UN General Assembly. In a video posted on Twitterby a journalist for Abu Dhabi newspaper The National, Aboul Gheit walks in ahallway at the UN headquarters and sees Muallem, who turns around. "Goodevening. Great. How are you?" Aboul Gheit says, before shaking Muallem'shand and kissing him on both cheeks.
The Arab Leaguechief, who is Egyptian, then exchanges greetings with Syria's Deputy ForeignMinister Faisal Mekdad and its ambassador to the United Nations, BasharJaafari. "Really, it's always a pleasure to see you," Aboul Gheitsays to the Syrian officials before giving a friendly tap on the shoulder.Syria was suspended from the Arab League in 2011 with the outbreak of unrestruthlessly crushed by President Bashar Al-Assad. The war has killed more than370,000 people and displaced millions, but both Arab and Western officials havegradually come to accept that Assad will succeed in maintaining power.
Chemical weapons
In anotherdevelopment, the United States vowed a response as it said it had confirmedanother chemical weapons attack by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces, althoughthere were no fatalities. The Assad regime used chlorine on May 19 in Latakiaprovince during its ferocious offensive to take back the last major rebelstronghold in nearby Idlib, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. "TheUnited States will not allow these attacks to go unchallenged nor will wetolerate those who choose to conceal these atrocities," Pompeo toldreporters in New York, where he was taking part in the UN General Assembly.
"The UnitedStates will continue to pressure the insidious Assad regime to end the violencedirected at Syrian civilians and participate in the UN-led politicalprocess," he said. He later took part in a meeting on Syria with hiscounterparts from France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, who said in ajoint statement: "The use of any chemical weapons in Syria shall not betolerated."
Four people wereinjured in the attack and, while there were no deaths, it marked the firstknown chemical attack in a year and raised fears of further use, said JimJeffrey, the US special representative for Syria. "We fear that theregime, which has very weak infantry forces, will try to use chemical weaponsonce again to make up for its inability to seize ground by combat power,"Jeffrey told reporters.
No independent verificationwas available of the attack from northwestern Syria, where rights observers saythat more than 1,000 people have been killed and 400,000 displaced since thegovernment began its bombardment in April. The United States and France hadboth earlier aired suspicions of a chemical attack but had held off on making aformal determination, saying more research was needed.
Pattern ofchemical use
Internationalinvestigators say Assad has repeatedly used chemical weapons against civiliantargets in his brutal quest to win the civil war, in which more than 370,000people have died. Former president Barack Obama had called chemical weapons usea red line but ultimately declined military retaliation. Drawing a contrast,President Donald Trump ordered strikes with 59 cruise missiles in response to asarin gas attack in April 2017 in the rebel-held Idlib town of Khan Sheikhun.
The reprisalevidently did not deter Assad, who enjoys strong support from Russia, which hasvetoed UN Security Council bids to rein in Assad and deployed its military toSyria. Jeffrey believed Russian officers were aware of the chemical attack,saying: "It's very hard for me to believe that professionals as good asthat, the way they are spread out, would not know of something like this."
Weighing response
The United Statesannounced one countermeasure on Thursday, slapping sanctions on a Russiannetwork of three individuals and five vessels for supplying fuel to Russianforces in Syria. Pompeo said that the United States was donating an additional$4.5 million to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, theHague-based body that monitors the international treaty banning such arms.
But Pompeoappeared to downplay the prospect of military action, noting that the attackinvolved chlorine, which affects the respiratory system. The Khan Sheikhunattacks, which the United Nations said killed 83 people, entailed sarin, anultra-potent gas that devastates the nervous system. "So it's a bit of adifferent situation," Pompeo said.
But he warned:"The Syrian regime should know and the world should appreciate the factthat we're going to do everything we can reasonably do to prevent this kind ofthing from happening again." The US finding on chemical weapons came in aweek that offered one glimmer of hope, with the United Nations announcing theformation of a committee to write a new Syrian constitution. The group willinvolve both the government and opposition, although there is no consensus onwhich direction they will take the constitution.- Agencies