UNITED NATIONS, New York. – Edmond Mulet, head of the Joint Investigation Mechanism, said this Thursday in the United Nations that chemical weapons were used in the Syrian conflict.

This is an undeniable fact and the use of banned substances caused fatalities in the Levantine country, Mulet said after presenting to the Security Council the sixth report of the mechanism composed by the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

The Guatemalan diplomat explained that the mechanism currently investigates two cases of use of chemical weapons in Syria, one in Khan Sheikhoun in April this year and the other one in Idlib last September.

Mulet pointed out that the ongoing investigations are very complex, based on the existing conflict and the political polarization around it; in this scenario, the mandate given by the Council is to conduct professional inquiries.