VOA常速英语2017--阿萨德政权对平民使用化学武器

The United Nations reports that despite reduced violence in some areas of Syria, unspeakable crimes against civilians 2 have continued, including the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people by the Assad regime.

据联合国报道，虽然叙利亚的一些地区暴力形势有所缓解，但平民依然在遭受着犯罪行为，苦不堪言。犯罪行为包括阿萨德政权对叙利亚人民使用了化学武器。

The UN's International Commission of Inquiry 3 for Syria, led by Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, confirmed that Syrian government forces used chemical weapons more than two dozen times since the conflict began, including in the deadly sarin gas attack in April, 2017 on the town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed at least 83 people.

联合国的叙利亚国际调查委员会由保罗(Paulo Sergio Pinheiro)领导。经该委员会确认，叙利亚政府军自冲突开始以来，已使用了20多次化学武器，其中包括2017年4月对汗舍孔镇(Khan Sheikhoun)发动的致命沙林气体攻击。这次攻击导致至少83人死亡。

Government forces continued the pattern of using chemical weapons against civilians in opposition-held areas, the report by the Commission stated. In the gravest incident, the Syrian air force used sarin in Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib, killing 4 dozens, the majority of whom were women and children.

根据叙利亚国际调查委员会的报告，政府军依然在叛军控制的地带对平民使用化学武器。更有甚者，叙利亚空军在伊德利卜(Idlib)的汗舍孔镇使用了沙林毒气，致数十人死亡，其中大部分是妇女儿童。

The report notes that Assad's aerial campaign also targeted medical facilities throughout the area, resulting in a severe weakening of their ability to provide assistance to victims of the sarin attack and a consequent increase in the number of civilian 1 casualties.

这份报告指出，阿萨德空袭的目标还有该地带的医疗设施，严重降低他们向沙林毒气攻击受害者提供援助的能力，同时增加平民的伤亡数量。

In addition, the Commission reported that at in least three places -- Idlib, Hamah, and eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus -- Syrian forces used weaponized chlorine. These attacks constitute clear violations 5 of international humanitarian 6 law and the Convention on Chemical Weapons, the report noted 7, which the Syrian Arab Republic ratified 8 in 2013 following a previous sarin attack.

此外，该委员会的报告还指出，至少在这3个地方——伊德利卜、哈马以及大马士革东部的古塔郊区——叙军都使用了氯化武器。该报告指出，这些攻击公然违反了国际人道主义法以及《化学武器公约》。后者是2013年发生过沙林毒气攻击事件后，阿拉伯叙利亚共和国批准通过的公约。

After the report was released, the U.S. mission to the United Nations called for full accountability for chemical weapons use in Syria.

这份报告发布后，美国驻联合国使团呼吁叙利亚对使用化学武器的行为负全责。

The United States has long urged the international community to act to enforce UN Security Council resolutions against the use of chemical weapons, and to hold perpetrators like Bashar al Assad responsible for his crimes. In April after the attack on Khan Sheikhoun, the United States destroyed the airfield 9 in Syria from which the Syrian government's chemical strike was launched. The same month, the U.S. Treasury 10 Department imposed sanctions against 271 employees of the Syrian government agency responsible for developing such weapons and the means to deliver them.

长期以来，美国一直敦促国际社会行动起来，执行联合国决议，不使用化学武器，同时让包括阿萨德在内的始作俑者为自己犯下的罪行负责。4月，在汗舍孔镇遭受袭击后，美国摧毁了叙利亚的一个飞机场，该飞机场是叙利亚政府发动化学武器攻击的始发地。同月，美国财政部对叙利亚政府的271名员工进行了制裁，这些员工都助力了化学武器的研发和使用。

As the evidence continues to mount of Assad's culpability 11, it is past time for the international community to ensure that such blatant 12 disregard of international law and human decency 13 stop and that the perpetrators be held to account.

阿萨德政权的罪孽愈发深重，急需确保这种公然无视国际法和人类尊严的行为即刻停止，确保将始作俑者绳之以法。