Chemical Weapons Challenges
An
advance team from the organization charged with destroying Syria’s
chemical weapons stockpiles arrived in Damascus on last Tuesday to begin
talks with Syrian officials on how to carry out its difficult and
politically charged task, a United Nations official was quoted by media.
A team of international disarmament experts has arrived in Syria to
begin work on dismantling the country's stockpile of chemical weapons.
Syria has said it will co-operate with the mission, set up after a
US-Russia deal endorsed by the UN. It is the first time the Organisation
for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has been asked to
destroy a country's chemical arms during a war.
The inspectors' mission was born out of a deadly chemical attack on opposition-held suburbs of Damascus on Aug. 21. The U.S. and its allies accuse the Syrian government of being responsible, while Damascus blames the rebels.
The chemical attack prompted the Obama administration to threaten punitive missile strikes against the Assad regime, touching off weeks of frantic diplomacy that ended with Friday's U.N. resolution.
The resolution also endorsed a roadmap for political transition in Syria adopted by key nations in June 2012, and it called for an international peace conference in Geneva to be convened "as soon as possible" to implement it.
The Geneva negotiations have been repeatedly delayed for months, with neither the Syrian regime nor the opposition showing much interest in attending while the war on the ground remains deadlocked. Disagreements also have flared repeatedly over who should take part in the talks. Efforts to bring the sides to the table received another blow over the weekend when Syria's foreign minister said the government won't talk with the main Western-backed opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition.
Russia, a close ally of Syria, tried to smooth things over Tuesday, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saying that "reasonable" Syrian rebels could participate. Speaking to reporters in Moscow, Lavrov said Western powers should help encourage rebels who don't harbor "extremist or terrorist views" to take part.
UN chemical weapons inspectors filed an interim report last month confirming that the nerve agent sarin had been used in an attack on the outskirts of Damascus on 21 August that killed hundreds of people. Syria's chemical weapons arsenal is believed to include more than 1,000 tonnes of sarin, the blister agent sulphur mustard and other banned chemicals stored at dozens of sites.
Last month, it submitted to the OPCW a full account of its arsenal, as part of the US-Russian initiative that saw it accede to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). An OPCW official told the media : "At this point, we have absolutely no reason to doubt the information provided by the Syrian regime."
Syria believed to possess more than 1,000 tonnes of chemical agents and pre-cursor chemicals, including blister agent, sulphur mustard, and sarin nerve agent; also thought to have produced most potent nerve agent, VX. US believes Syria's arsenal can be "delivered by aircraft, ballistic missile, and artillery rockets." Syria acceded to Chemical Weapons Convention on 14 September; it signed Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention in 1972 but never ratified.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) says it has received an initial disclosure from the Syrian government of its chemical weapons programme, which is now being examined. The size of Syria's stockpile has been the subject of speculation for many years, but some believe it is the world's largest. Until this month, the country had not signed the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), so it had never made a formal declaration of its stock. Most experts believe it has the blister agent sulphur mustard, the nerve agent sarin, and the more potent and persistent nerve agent VX.
On 14 September, the United States and Russia agreed a plan to remove and destroy Syria's chemical weapons by mid-2014. President Bashar al-Assad has said he is ready to comply, but warned that it was a technically complicated operation that could take at least a year and cost $1bn (£620m). Mr Assad has also denied that his forces were behind a chemical weapons attack outside Damascus on 21 August.
Washington believes that the Syrian military has access to "thousands of munitions" that can be used to deliver chemical warfare agents, including a variety of long- and short-range ballistic missiles, aerial bombs and artillery rockets. Since the beginning of the uprising, ammunitions carrying lesser volumes are believed to have been developed for more focused and local tactical use.
Regarding the chain of command, the French intelligence assessment said the section of the Syrian military responsible for filling munitions with chemical agents and for security at storage sites - "Branch 450" of the CERS - was staffed only by members of the president's minority Alawite sect and was "distinguished by a high level of loyalty to the regime".
"Bashar al-Assad and certain influential members of his clan are the only ones permitted to give the order for the use of chemical weapons. The order is then transmitted to those responsible at the competent branches of the CERS," it added. "At the same time, the army chiefs of staff receive the order and decide on targets, the weapons and the toxic agents."
Washington, Moscow and others are hoping to build on the rare consensus achieved over the chemical weapons issue, to push for peace settlement talks in Geneva. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has proposed a date in mid-November for the discussions.
But analysts say many obstacles remain to be overcome before credible and serious negotiations can take place.
The inspectors' mission was born out of a deadly chemical attack on opposition-held suburbs of Damascus on Aug. 21. The U.S. and its allies accuse the Syrian government of being responsible, while Damascus blames the rebels.
The chemical attack prompted the Obama administration to threaten punitive missile strikes against the Assad regime, touching off weeks of frantic diplomacy that ended with Friday's U.N. resolution.
The resolution also endorsed a roadmap for political transition in Syria adopted by key nations in June 2012, and it called for an international peace conference in Geneva to be convened "as soon as possible" to implement it.
The Geneva negotiations have been repeatedly delayed for months, with neither the Syrian regime nor the opposition showing much interest in attending while the war on the ground remains deadlocked. Disagreements also have flared repeatedly over who should take part in the talks. Efforts to bring the sides to the table received another blow over the weekend when Syria's foreign minister said the government won't talk with the main Western-backed opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition.
Russia, a close ally of Syria, tried to smooth things over Tuesday, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saying that "reasonable" Syrian rebels could participate. Speaking to reporters in Moscow, Lavrov said Western powers should help encourage rebels who don't harbor "extremist or terrorist views" to take part.
UN chemical weapons inspectors filed an interim report last month confirming that the nerve agent sarin had been used in an attack on the outskirts of Damascus on 21 August that killed hundreds of people. Syria's chemical weapons arsenal is believed to include more than 1,000 tonnes of sarin, the blister agent sulphur mustard and other banned chemicals stored at dozens of sites.
Last month, it submitted to the OPCW a full account of its arsenal, as part of the US-Russian initiative that saw it accede to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). An OPCW official told the media : "At this point, we have absolutely no reason to doubt the information provided by the Syrian regime."
Syria believed to possess more than 1,000 tonnes of chemical agents and pre-cursor chemicals, including blister agent, sulphur mustard, and sarin nerve agent; also thought to have produced most potent nerve agent, VX. US believes Syria's arsenal can be "delivered by aircraft, ballistic missile, and artillery rockets." Syria acceded to Chemical Weapons Convention on 14 September; it signed Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention in 1972 but never ratified.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) says it has received an initial disclosure from the Syrian government of its chemical weapons programme, which is now being examined. The size of Syria's stockpile has been the subject of speculation for many years, but some believe it is the world's largest. Until this month, the country had not signed the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), so it had never made a formal declaration of its stock. Most experts believe it has the blister agent sulphur mustard, the nerve agent sarin, and the more potent and persistent nerve agent VX.
On 14 September, the United States and Russia agreed a plan to remove and destroy Syria's chemical weapons by mid-2014. President Bashar al-Assad has said he is ready to comply, but warned that it was a technically complicated operation that could take at least a year and cost $1bn (£620m). Mr Assad has also denied that his forces were behind a chemical weapons attack outside Damascus on 21 August.
Washington believes that the Syrian military has access to "thousands of munitions" that can be used to deliver chemical warfare agents, including a variety of long- and short-range ballistic missiles, aerial bombs and artillery rockets. Since the beginning of the uprising, ammunitions carrying lesser volumes are believed to have been developed for more focused and local tactical use.
Regarding the chain of command, the French intelligence assessment said the section of the Syrian military responsible for filling munitions with chemical agents and for security at storage sites - "Branch 450" of the CERS - was staffed only by members of the president's minority Alawite sect and was "distinguished by a high level of loyalty to the regime".
"Bashar al-Assad and certain influential members of his clan are the only ones permitted to give the order for the use of chemical weapons. The order is then transmitted to those responsible at the competent branches of the CERS," it added. "At the same time, the army chiefs of staff receive the order and decide on targets, the weapons and the toxic agents."
Washington, Moscow and others are hoping to build on the rare consensus achieved over the chemical weapons issue, to push for peace settlement talks in Geneva. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has proposed a date in mid-November for the discussions.
But analysts say many obstacles remain to be overcome before credible and serious negotiations can take place.
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