UN Security Council on Friday adopted a resolution to set up an investigative mechanism to identify the perpetrators of the deadly chlorine gas attacks in Syria.

In a unanimously adopted resolution, the 15-body council " reiterates that no party in Syria should use, develop, produce, acquire, stockpile, retain, or transfer chemical weapons."

The council also "expresses its determination to identify those responsible for these acts and reiterates that those individuals, entities, groups, or governments responsible for any use of chemicals as weapons, including chlorine or any other toxic chemical, must be held accountable," said the resolution.

Within 20 days of adoption, the UN Secretary-General and the Director-General of the Organization For the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will submit to the Security Council recommendations for the establishment and operation of a UN-OPCW Joint Investigative Mechanism to identify the perpetrators.

Bashar Ja'afari, permanent representative of Syria, said after the voting that the Syrian armies have not used and will never use chemical weapons.

According to Ja'afari, terrorists in Syria are the ones who have used chemical weapons. He also said that previous investigators received a number of fabricated claims, and some countries have tried to frame the Syrian government.

Therefore, Ja'afari called for a joint investigation mechanism that is fair, transparent, credible and independent.

The Hague-based OPCW said early this year that it was confident that deadly chlorine-filled bombs had been used in the Syrian conflict. Some witnesses quoted by OPCW as saying that the bombs were dropped by helicopters, which only the Syrian government possesses.

The secretary-general said in a statement issued after the adaptation of the resolution that he "is pleased that the Security Council has decided to act and take the necessary action not just to halt the continued use of toxic chemicals as weapons by any party to the conflict, but also to send a strong collective message that any such use will not be tolerated."

Full cooperation from all parties, including the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic, will be essential. The process will once again require the active engagement of the international community, said the statement.

"Holding the perpetrators of the toxic chemical attacks accountable may hopefully alleviate the prolonged suffering of the Syrian people," said the statement.

The resolution is the most significant action by the council on the chemical weapons issue in Syria since President Bashar al- Assad's government joined the Chemical Weapons Convention in 2013.

The Syrian conflict began when nationwide protests against President Bashar al-Assad met with violent government crackdowns in 2011. Till now, it has been dragging on for over four years with no solution in sight.