UNITED NATIONS (AP) — France says the U.N. Security Council will approve a one year extension of the mandate for inspectors charged with determining who is behind chemical weapons attacks in Syria.
France's U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre welcomed the expected extension and expressed hope that all 15 council members will support the resolution when it's put to a vote Thursday evening. Russia has questioned the findings of the Joint Investigative Mechanism, or JIM.
Investigators from the JIM have determined that the Syrian government was behind at least three attacks involving chlorine gas and the Islamic State group was responsible for at least one involving mustard gas.
Delattre praised the JIM's "remarkable work" and the importance of extending its mandate "in light of the new allegations of chemical weapons use in Syria."
He said extending the JIM's mandate "will be a very important signal from the council to those who used chemical weapons in Syria but also for the credibility and future of the nonproliferation regime."
But Delattre said the council needs to go further and hold those responsible for using chemical weapons accountable.
"We strongly believe it is the council's responsibility to ensure that the perpetrators of such horrendous acts are sanctioned," he said. "When the proliferation and the use of weapons of mass destruction against civilian populations are at stake, we should expect the Security Council to remain united. "
The United States, Britain and France have been pressing the council to impose sanctions on the Syrian government for using chemical weapons. But Russia, Syria's closest ally, has repeatedly questioned investigators' conclusions linking chemical weapons use to the regime of President Bashar Assad.
The Syrian government denies using chemical weapons in the civil war, now in its sixth year.
Russia has said it would also like to expand the JIM's mandate to cover the use of chemical weapons by "terrorists" beyond Syrian territory.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the international watchdog, last week condemned the use of chemical weapons in Syria and called on the government to allow inspections of sites of concern.
Following a chemical weapon attack on a Damascus suburb that killed hundreds of civilians on Aug. 21, 2013 a U.S.-Russian agreement led to a Security Council resolution the following month ordering the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons, precursors, and the equipment to produce the deadly agents.
The Syrian government's support for the resolution and decision to join the OPCW warded off possible U.S. military strikes in the aftermath of the attack, which Damascus denied carrying out.
Syria's declared stockpile of 1,300 metric tons of chemicals has been destroyed, but the OPCW is still investigating outstanding questions about possible undeclared chemical weapons.
Chlorine is not a banned agent used in chemical weapons, like sarin or ricin. But it is toxic and its use in attacks in Syria started being reported last year.
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Associated Press writer Michael Astor contributed to this report.