Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia (front) listens to Vladimir Safronkov (L, 2nd row), Russian deputy ambassador to UN, during the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in Syria at the UN headquarters in New York, April 9, 2018. The Security Council held an emergency session on the situation in Syria, particularly after reports of the use of chemical weapons over the weekend in rebel-held Douma near the capital city of Damascus. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

by Xinhua writer Wang Jiangang

UNITED NATIONS, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Big powers attending a UN Security Council meeting on Monday crossed verbal swords with each other over their views on the suspected poison gas attack in war-torn Syria.

SHARP DIFFERENCES

Both Security Council members and UN officials briefing them voiced grave concern that the use of chemical weapons risked "being normalized," and could contribute to rapidly escalating tensions between world powers.

Taking the floor, council members differed sharply on their versions of the Douma incident, with some recounting gruesome descriptions of civilians hiding and perishing in their basements as chemical weapons fell from above. Others described it as "fake news" aimed at falsely incriminating the Syrian government and its allies.

Still others, recalling claims of chemical weapons used against two Russians in the British town of Salisbury just weeks ago, expressed concern that the world was seeing a re-emergence of such weapons as part of a dangerous new "status quo."

CROSS SWORDS: RUSSIA VS U.S.

Russian Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Vassily Nebenzia said that Washington and those "blindly" following it, namely London and Paris, were "carrying out a deliberate policy to stoke international tensions."

Without justification, they were "engaged in a confrontational policy against Russia and Syria, prompting others to follow suit," he said.

His country was being "unpardonably threatened" and the tone of language had gone beyond what was "acceptable even during the cold war."

The United States and its Western partners do not understand the potential consequences of their reckless geopolitical experiment in the Middle East, he said, adding that most council members were "confounded" by their lack of strategy, yet were not saying so openly.

The Russian diplomat said that he wondered if the United States and its partners understood "the dangerous threshold" to which they were taking the world.

The use of sarin or chlorine in Douma "had not been confirmed." He invited those who would speak against him to proceed from the premise that no chemical attack had taken place.

The experts of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) should immediately fly to Damascus where Syrian authorities and Russian troops would provide the conditions for them to go to the scene and familiarize themselves with the situation, as called for by the U.S. president and other Western leaders, he added.

Quoting U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley as saying that her country had never been a friend of Russia, he said no one could force a friendship and "we are not begging to be friends with you." His country wanted "normal civilized relations," which the United States was "arrogantly refusing."

Emphasizing that international terrorism was the common enemy, he said Russia called on Western politicians "to scale down their rhetoric" and consider the consequences of their conduct.

He called for a return to the legal fold, in line with the UN Charter, and for an end to "egotistical geopolitical games" alongside support for the political process to end the conflict in Syria.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley (front) addresses the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in Syria at the UN headquarters in New York, April 9, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

While Haley said she could certainly show pictures of suffering survivors, or first responders in the streets, or hospitals struck by barrel bombs following the gas attack, she instead asked: "Who does this? Only a monster does this."

Russia and Iran were helping to direct the Assad regime's attacks by providing the hardware needed to conduct them, she stressed.

Recalling that the Joint Investigative Mechanism had determined that Syria's government was responsible for the attack in Khan Shaykhun a year ago, she said Russia had "killed it" because of those findings.

What was being considered today was not about a spat between the United States and Russia, but about the use of chemical weapons on civilians. "There can be no more rationalization about our failure to act," she added.

The Security Council must re-establish a "professional and impartial mechanism" to investigate chemical attacks in Syria, she said, noting that the U.S. president was weighing important national decisions related to the crisis.

FRANCE, BRITAIN ON U.S. SIDE

Francois Delattre, French permanent representative to the UN, said thousands of videos and photos emerging from Douma in recent days showed victims "foaming at the mouth and convulsing," all symptoms of a potent nerve agent combined with chlorine. "There was no doubt as to the perpetrators," as only the Syrian government and its allies had the capability of developing such substances.

Karen Pierce (front), British Ambassador to the United Nations, addresses the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in Syria, at the UN headquarters in New York, April 9, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

Karen Pierce, British representative to the UN, said the five permanent council members had a particular responsibility to uphold the global prohibition on weapons of mass destruction.

While Britain believed the Syrian regime was responsible for the latest attack, there must be an independent fact-finding mission to determine if chemical weapons had been used, and if so, which ones, she noted.

SYRIA: FIGHTS BACK

Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja'afari said that the "lies of some permanent council members" had fueled conflicts, including in Vietnam, Iraq and on the Korean Peninsula. Now they sought "to defeat Syria."

Emphasizing that the United States, Britain and France were eager to hold council meetings on the basis of "fabricated information," he recalled that the Syrian government had warned the Security Council, OPCW and the Joint Investigative Mechanism on many occasions of terrorist groups possessing chlorine and sarin.

The White Helmets (independent non-governmental organization) would "fabricate evidence and Hollywood-like scenes" intended to stir incitement against Syria and its allies. The Syrian military "had no chemical weapons," having destroyed them under U.S. auspices, he stressed.

TROUBLED UN OFFICIALS

Staffan de Mistura, UN special envoy for Syria, outlined events over the last 48 hours, including reports of civilians in the eastern Ghouta town of Douma suffering symptoms consistent with chemical weapons exposure.

Over the weekend, photos had begun to circulate on social media showing "lifeless" men, women and children, while non-governmental organizations claimed to have received cases of civilians experiencing the effects of chemical weapons, he said.

While the UN was "not in a position to verify" those reports, he said, "it cannot ignore them."

Noting that OPCW had begun an initial investigation, he voiced concern, for the first time in his tenure, over not just the security of Syria or the region, but the world. "The council cannot allow a situation of uncontrollable escalation to develop in Syria, on any front," he stressed.

Thomas Markram, director and deputy high representative for disarmament affairs, cited reports that at least 49 people had been killed and hundreds injured in the alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma.

Noting that the OPCW, through its Fact-Finding Mission (FFM), was already gathering information, he emphasized that what was being seen in Syria could not "go unchallenged" by anyone who valued the decades of efforts to bring about disarmament and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Urging the Security Council to unite to those ends, he stressed: "To do otherwise, or to simply do nothing, is to accept, tacitly or otherwise, that such a challenge is insurmountable."

CHINA FIRMLY OPPOSES CHEMICAL WEAPONS

Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, reiterated his country's firm opposition to chemical weapons use, and its support for a comprehensive, objective and impartial investigation that would stand the test of history and facts with the perpetrators being brought to justice.

Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, addresses a meeting of the UN Security Council on the chemical weapon use in Syria, at the UN headquarters in New York April 9, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

China supported the Security Council and OPCW as the main channels for addressing chemical weapons, and it hoped that parties concerned would take a constructive approach.

Emphasizing the need for the unity of the council, he said a "political settlement" was the only way to resolve the Syrian question, with the international community respecting Syria's sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.

Regarding the poisoning of a former Russian double agent along with his daughter, Wu reiterated his country's position in favor of an investigation within an OPCW framework.

Also speaking were representatives of the Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Ethiopia, Cote d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Bolivia and Peru.