Oct 31, 2013 - Syria’s declared equipment for producing, mixing and filling chemical weapons has been destroyed, the international watchdog says.
This comes a day before the deadline set by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
The weapons have been placed under seal, an OPCW spokesman said.
Inspectors were sent to Syria following allegations, denied by the government, that its forces had used chemical weapons in civilian areas.
Now that the equipment has been put beyond use, Syria has until mid-2014 to destroy the chemical weapons themselves.
In Washington, US state department official Thomas Countryman said: “I am increasingly confident that we will be able to complete this task... within the target date of 30 June of next year”.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-24754460
Jun 23, 2014 - Syria has handed over the last of its declared stockpile of chemical weapons, which will be destroyed at sea over the next two months, the UN’s chemical weapons watchdog has said.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical weapons (OPCW) announced that the final 8% of Syria’s acknowledged arsenal of chemical weapons and precursors had been loaded on to a Danish freighter.
The ship, the Ark Futura, is now sailing to the Italian port of Gioia Tauro for a rendezvous with an American vessel, the MV Cape Ray, which is specially equipped to neutralise the most dangerous of the chemical agents at sea.
“The mission to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons programme has been a major undertaking marked by an extraordinary international cooperation,” said Ahmet Uzumcu, the OPCW’s director-general. “Never before has an entire arsenal of a category of weapons of mass destruction been removed from a country experiencing a state of internal armed conflict. And this has been accomplished within very demanding and tight timeframes.”
However, Uzumcu added that the OPCW was not in a position to certify that Syria no longer had any chemical weapons. The materials removed were those that the regime had declared.
Western governments claim to have intelligence suggesting that Damascus has not admitted to all its chemical arms. An OPCW investigation team has found evidence that chlorine gas was used against civilians in recent months “in a systematic manner”, but the team has been unable to reach the site for further investigation because it came under attack.
Possession of chlorine is not a violation of the chemical weapons treaty, as it is a commonly used chemical, so Syria was not required to list chlorine on its declared inventory. But its use as a weapon is a violation of international law.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/23/syria-chemical-weapons-final-destruction-un-deadline
Apr 2017 - Syria claims that when their aircraft bombed the ISIS held town of Khan Sheikhoun a bomb struck an arsenal, that the chemicals are from the arsenal and not from their bomb. Chlorine is the chemical agent suspected.
Is this claim plausible?
In February, 2016, then CIA director John Brennan stated during a “60 Minutes” interview, “We have a number of instances where ISIL has used chemical munitions on the battlefield.” “The CIA believes that ISIS has the ability to manufacture small quantities of chlorine and mustard gas.” http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cia-director-john-brennan-60-minutes-scott-pelley/
In November, 2016, The New York Times wrote, “The Islamic State has used chemical weapons, including chlorine and sulfur mustard agents, at least 52 times on the battlefield in Syria and Iraq since it swept to power in 2014, according to a new independent analysis.” https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/world/middleeast/isis-chemical-weapons-syria-iraq-mosul.html
October, 2014, The Washington Post reports, “[IS uses] chlorine gas against Iraqi security forces”. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/islamic-state-militants-allegedly-used-chlorine-gas-against-iraqi-security-forces/2014/10/23/c865c943-1c93-4ac0-a7ed-033218f15cbb_story.html
July, 2015, The New York Times reports, “ISIS Has Fired Chemical Mortar Shells”, “The Islamic State appears to have manufactured rudimentary chemical warfare shells” https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/18/world/middleeast/islamic-state-isis-chemical-weapons-iraq-syria.html
September, 2016, Fox News reports, “ISIS believed to have attacked US base in Iraq with chemical agent” http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/09/21/isis-may-have-attacked-us-base-in-iraq-with-chemical-agent.html
The US government believes ISIS possesses and can manufacture chemical weapons, including chlorine. There are reports over the past several years of ISIS using chemical weapons.
Is there a doubt that ISIS would store or manufacture chemical weapons or their precursors among civilians? ISIS puts people in cages and sets them on fire, hangs people by their limbs and roasts them alive, beheads people, sometimes in mass-beheadings. There is no doubt that ISIS would not hesitate.
The US says it has tracked a Syrian plane from Shayrat Airfield to Khan Sheikoun, and back to Shayrat Airfield. Syria does not dispute this. This does not prove Syria delivered a chemical weapon.
I am not saying Syria did or did not drop chemical munitions, only that Syria’s claim appears plausible.
Thank you.