<P> On 5 March 2014, the "Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic" (dated 12 February) published a report that stated that the chemical agents used in the Khan - al - Assal bore "the same unique hallmarks as those used in Al - Ghouta" in the August 2013 chemical attack . The report also indicated, based on "evidence available concerning the nature, quality and quantity of the agents used" that the perpetrators of the Al - Ghouta attack "likely had access to the chemical weapons stockpile of the Syrian military". In none of the incidents, however, was the commission's "evidentiary threshold" met in regards to identifying the perpetrators of the chemical attacks . </P> <P> In August 2017, Del Ponte resigned from the Commission, due to frustration at the lack of support from the international community: "We could not obtain from the international community and the Security Council a resolution putting in place a tribunal, an ad hoc tribunal for all the crimes that are committed in Syria...Seven years of crime in Syria and total impunity . That is not acceptable ." She blamed Russia for vetoing action: "Now a prosecutor should continue our work and bring the war criminals before a special court . But that is exactly what Russia is blocking with its veto in the U.N. Security Council". She said Assad's government used chemical weapons the during the April 2017 Khan Shaykhun chemical attack, and that the Commission has gathered enough evidence for President al - Assad to be convicted of war crimes . </P>

Report of the independent international commission of inquiry on the syrian arab republic