AMSTERDAM – After Bashar al-Assad was removed from power three months ago, Syria’s interim government has shown chemical weapons inspectors places where weapons were made and stored. A team from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) visited Syria from March 12 to March 21 to search for leftover chemical weapons that were not properly declared by the Assad government. They checked five sites, some of which had been damaged or ransacked.
The inspectors were given access to important documents about Assad’s chemical weapons program. According to sources who preferred to stay anonymous, the new Syrian authorities cooperated fully with the inspectors. The OPCW reported that they got “unfettered access” to the sites and personnel. This cooperation is a big change from the past when Assad’s officials often stopped the inspectors from doing their job.
Now, with the new government promising to help the international community, there is hope for cleaning up the remaining chemical weapons. The United States has said that the destruction of these weapons is a requirement for lifting certain sanctions against Syria.
Previous investigations by the U.N. and OPCW found that Assad’s forces used dangerous nerve agents like sarin and chlorine during the civil war, harming many people. Although Assad and his Russian allies have denied using chemical weapons, the evidence shows otherwise.
In 2013, after a sarin attack that killed hundreds, Syria agreed to join the OPCW and destroy around 1,300 tons of chemical weapons. However, experts believe that many more illegal weapons could still be hidden away, and they want to explore more than 100 sites where these dangerous weapons could be stored or made.
The OPCW is also planning to open an office in Syria, even though violence in the region has made safety a concern. The OPCW works with 193 countries to enforce a global agreement against chemical weapons from 1997.
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