The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which is part of the United Nations, said that it will open two new rounds in the coming months of searches for chemical weapons in areas under the control of the Assad regime.

The Deputy High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Adideji Ebo, said efforts by the OPCW Technical Secretariat to hold the twenty-fifth round of consultations between the assessment team and the regime have not yet progressed.

He added that the Technical Secretariat proposed in May 2022 to address issues related to the declaration through an exchange of correspondence, and despite the regime's approval of this proposal, the Technical Secretariat has not yet received statements or other documents required from Syria.

He explained that in light of this situation, and in an attempt to implement its mandate, the Technical Secretariat proposed to send fewer teams, consisting of a group of assessment team members, to Syria to carry out limited activities. The first team was sent between January 17-22, 2023, while the second team was launched between April 12-19.

He noted that the results of the two search operations were delivered to the member states of the Chemical Weapons Convention in March, and then in July 2023.

He regretted that the system has not yet provided enough technical information or explanations that would allow the technical secretariat to close the file related to the detection of a level 2 chemical substance at the Barza facilities in November 2018.

He added that the technical secretariat has not yet received a response to its request for information regarding unauthorized movement and the remains of two destroyed tanks related to the chemical weapons incident that occurred in Douma on April 7, 2018.

He called on the regime to immediately respond to the requests of the organization's technical secretariat, and explained that the organization's delegation of workers for the prohibition of chemical weapons continues to examine all information related to allegations of the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

Ebo reiterated more than once that "the use of chemical weapons is unacceptable."

He emphasized that the irresponsible use of this weapon is a threat to international peace and security, and "poses a danger to all of us".

Ebo called on the Security Council to unite on this issue and show leadership with zero tolerance and punish without hesitation in cases of the use of chemical weapons.