“Panel is investigating reported prohibited chemical, ballistic missile and conventional arms cooperation between Syria and North Korea”


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The UN says two North Korean shipments to the Assad regime’s agency for chemical weapons have been intercepted in the past six months.

A panel of independent UN experts wrote, in a 37-page report to the UN Security Council earlier this month:

The panel is investigating reported prohibited chemical, ballistic missile and conventional arms cooperation between Syria and the DPRK [North Korea].

Two member states interdicted shipments destined for Syria. Another Member state informed the panel that it had reasons to believe that the goods were part of a KOMID [Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation] contract with Syria.

KOMID, blacklisted by the Security Council in 2009, is considered Pyongyang’s main arms dealer and exporter of equipment related to ballistic missiles and conventional weapons.

The UN panel said the intended recipients were “Syrian entities designated by the European Union and the United States as front companies for Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Centre”, which has run Damascus’s chemical weapons program since the 1970s.

The experts are also investigating cooperation over the Assad regime’s Scud missile programs and maintenance and repair of its surface-to-air missiles air defense systems.


Journalist Killed by Explosion in Southern Syria

Osama al-Zu’bi, a reporter for the pro-opposition Syrian Information Agency, has been killed by an improvised explosive device in Daraa Province in southern Syria.

Zu’bi’s brother and nephew also died in the explosion when their car was hit east of Daraa city.

AL-ZU'BI

Zu’bi is the second journalist to die in an attack in four days. Last Friday, an IED detonation — 9 km (6 miles) from the site of Monday’s attack, killed Hayan al-Aamari.


Rebels Accept “De-Escalation Zone” Near Damascus…But Don’t Expect It to Hold

The leading rebel faction Jaish al-Islam has accepted the Russian proposal of a de-escalation zone near Damascus, but has no expectations that the Assad regime will meet conditions for it to last.

Mohammad Alloush, a senior Jaish al-Islam official, said the rebels will adhere to a ceasefire if the Assad regime meets the Russian terms of a halt to attacks and if the regime releases political detainees.

A well-placed local source said Jaish al-Islam — one of the two leading factions in the East Ghouta region near Damascus — will proceed with caution, holding back from significant military operations, in the near-future.

Russian State media had trumpeted the de-escalation zone in late July, claiming Alloush had agreed, but the official made no statement at the time.

The other prominent faction in and near the capital, Failaq al-Rahman, has set similar conditions and reservations about the agreement.

The boundaries of the de-escalation zone are still vague, and the Assad regime has continued its months-long offensive — unsuccessful so far despite sustained bombardment and the use of chemical weapons — to reclaim Jobar in northeast Damascus and the nearby suburb of Ein Tarma.

On Sunday, Jaish al-Islam and Failaq al-Rahman said they had reached an accord to end recent in-fighting between the two factions. Failaq al-Rahman are reportedly close to agreeing the removal of elements of the jihadist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which had been supporting the faction, from the area.


Hezbollah Uses Armed Drones on ISIS

Hezbollah has publicly acknowledged its use of armed drones for the first time, hitting Islamic State targets in Syria close to the Lebanese border.

Hezbollah’s media unit said there were “direct hits” as “the armed drones of the Resistance targeted Daesh positions and fortifications in western Qalamoun” in southwest Syria.

Hezbollah launched an offensive against ISIS earlier this month, accompanied by Lebanese army operations in the mountain region near Arsal in northeast Lebanon.