Over 100 chemical weapons sites of Assad regime may still be existing in Syria: Report

As many as 100 chemical weapons sites could still be existing in Syria, far more than the 27 sites initially declared by the regime of former president Bashar al-Assad when Damascus agreed to disarm in 2013, reveals a New York Times report based on the findings of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
The OPCW, a treaty-based agency in The Hague with 193 member countries, is tasked with implementing the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention.

Chemical weapons inspectors were taken to previously unseen production and storage locations, dating from the rule of Bashar al-Assad, by Syria’s caretaker government.

The suspected sites were likely used for research, manufacturing, and storage of nerve agents like sarin, chlorine and mustard gas. Some are believed to be hidden in caves or similar difficult-to-reach sites, raising the risk that the dangerous stockpiles could fall into the hands of extremists and armed groups.

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An OPCW team visited Syria in March to prepare for the task of locating and destroying remnants of chemical weapons stockpile. They were taken to locations that had not been declared to OPCW by the Assad government. The team was given access to documents and details about Assad’s chemical weapons programme.
“The Syrian caretaker authorities extended all possible support and cooperation,” the agency said in a summary of the visit posted online.
The OPCW was provided security and had “unfettered access” to sites and people, in sharp contrast to the situation under Assad when Syrian officials used to stonewall OPCW inspectors.

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Although the new leadership in Syria allowed OPCW to start its ground assessments and pledged to eliminate remaining weapons, some experts are still sceptical. “There are many locations that we don’t know about because the old regime was lying to the OPCW,” Raed al-Saleh of the Syria Civil Defence told the NYT.
Moreover, Israeli airstrikes on some suspected facilities after Assad’s ouster may have destroyed key evidence, thwarting any bid to document violations. Israel says it struck suspected chemical weapons sites in Syria to prevent them from falling into the hands of hostile actors.

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Syria’s chemical weapons programme dates to the 1970s and involved hundreds of scientists, most of them trained in Europe. Despite official disarmament, watchdogs documented repeated use of banned substances till 2018 at least.

Assad and his Russian backers always denied ever having used chemical weapons in the civil war that began in 2011 and left hundreds of thousands dead.

Syria joined the agency under a U.S.-Russian deal after a 2013 sarin gas attack near Damascus killed hundreds. Around 1,300 metric tonnes of chemical weapons and precursors were destroyed.
But it is still believed to have kept some of the weapons and was accused of using them again in the following years.

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The destruction of any remaining chemical weapons was among the conditions the United States imposed on Syria if it wants sanctions relief.