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Nearly 90% of Syria’s Chemical Arms Have Been Removed Nearly 90% of Syria’s Chemical Arms Have Been Removed
(about 4 hours later)
Nearly 90 percent of the chemicals in Syria’s weapons arsenal have now been removed from the war-torn country, with only two or three shipments left for export, the group responsible for policing the global treaty that bans chemical munitions reported on Tuesday. Nearly 90 percent of the chemicals in Syria’s arsenal have now been exported and only a few shipments remain, international monitors reported Tuesday, but the progress was overshadowed by growing concerns that the Syrian military may be dropping bombs filled with chlorine, a common industrial compound not on the list of prohibited poisons.
But the news on progress in eliminating the threat of those chemicals, reported by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, was overshadowed by growing concerns that the Syrian military might have dropped barrels full of industrial chlorine on civilian-populated areas in recent weeks as part of its campaign to crush the three-year-old insurgency. Disarmament experts said that if the unconfirmed reports that Syrian warplanes and helicopters have been using chlorine-filled bombs in the civil war were true, that would be a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty signed by Syria last year and could constitute a war crime.
Disarmament experts said that while chlorine was not on the lists of banned chemicals in the international Chemical Weapons Convention, chlorine’s use as a weapon, if confirmed, would be a violation of the treaty and a war crime. “The C.W.C. prohibits the use of any chemical on the battlefield to achieve military purposes,” said Amy E. Smithson, an expert on chemical weapons in the Washington office of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, Calif.
Paul F. Walker, a chemical-weapons expert at Green Cross International, an environmental advocacy group, said nine suspected chlorine attacks had taken place in Syria in recent months, and the perpetrators had yet to be identified. If, however, barrel bombs with chlorine tanks have been dropped from aircraft, Dr. Walker said in an email, “it clearly points to the Syrian military.” The insurgents do not have aircraft. Dr. Smithson said that “the telltale sign of responsibility in this instance may be the reports that this stuff was delivered by air.”
Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, a disarmament monitoring group in Washington, said in an interview that the allegation of chlorine-filled barrel bombs being dropped from aircraft was “disturbing and puzzling — and it mars the good news that Syria is very close to completing the removal of its declared chemical stockpile.” “Only the Syrian government has helos and aircraft,” she added.
Both the United States and France have said they take seriously reports that earlier this month Syrian forces used chlorine in an attack on a village occupied by insurgents. Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for the State Department, told reporters in response to questions about the reports on Monday: “Obviously, there needs to be an investigation of what’s happened here. We’re working with our partners to determine what the facts are on the ground.” The Syrian government and insurgent groups have both denied the use of chlorine, one of the original chemicals used by the Germans nearly a century ago when they introduced the world to chemical warfare in the trenches of Europe.
The declaration of progress by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, a Hague-based group that is collaborating with the United Nations to oversee the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons, came a little more than two months before all of Syria’s chemical arms must be destroyed, under a Security Council resolution. Syria agreed to renounce the use of these weapons last September. While potentially fatal, chlorine is not nearly as efficient a killer as nerve agents and other toxins that had been stockpiled by Syria. Chlorine’s ordinary uses are so mundane — from bleaching laundry to disinfecting swimming pools — that it is not considered a banned substance in the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty, and Syria was not obliged to export its chlorine supply under its promise, made last September, to renounce chemical arms.
In a statement posted on its website, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said the 17th consignment of the Syrian government’s stockpile of chemical compounds had been delivered to the Mediterranean port of Latakia, where it was immediately loaded onto cargo ships and removed from the country. Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, a disarmament monitoring group in Washington, said that the allegation of chlorine-filled barrel bombs was “disturbing and puzzling — and it mars the good news that Syria is very close to completing the removal of its declared chemical stockpile.”
“This latest consignment is encouraging,” the director of the Hague-based organization, Ahmet Uzumcu, said in the statement. “We hope that the remaining two or three consignments are delivered quickly to permit destruction operations to get underway in time to meet the midyear deadline for destroying Syria’s chemical weapons.” Paul F. Walker, a chemical-weapons expert at Green Cross International, an environmental advocacy group, said that nine suspected chlorine attacks had taken place in Syria in recent months, and that the perpetrators had not been identified.
Syria’s government committed to the destruction of its chemical weapons under a deal negotiated by the United States and Russia. The deal averted an American missile strike on Syrian military targets after an Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack in a suburb of Damascus. The government and insurgent groups blamed each other for that attack, in which a United Nations investigative panel said the deadly nerve agent sarin was used. Both the United States and France have said they take such reports seriously, particularly an instance earlier this month in which Syrian forces were accused of using chlorine bombs in an attack on a village in central Syria, Kafr Zita, occupied by insurgents.
Under the Security Council resolution, Syria promised that all of its chemical weapons would be destroyed by June 30, but it failed to meet at least two deadlines earlier this year for the export of the chemicals used to make the munitions so they could be safely destroyed abroad. Under pressure from the United States and other countries, the Syrians began to expedite the exports and promised that they would be done by this Sunday. Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for the State Department, told reporters in response to questions about the reports on Monday: “Obviously, there needs to be an investigation of what’s happened here. We’re working with our partners to determine what the facts are on the ground.”
The declaration of progress in purging Syria’s chemical stockpile was made by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, a group in The Hague that is collaborating with the United Nations to oversee compliance with the Syrian government’s promise. The organization’s report came a little more than two months before all of Syria’s chemical arms must be destroyed, under a Security Council resolution.
In a statement posted on its website, the organization said the 17th consignment of the Syrian government’s stockpile had been delivered to the Mediterranean port of Latakia, where it was immediately loaded onto cargo ships and removed from the country.
“This latest consignment is encouraging,” the organization’s director, Ahmet Uzumcu, said in the statement. “We hope that the remaining two or three consignments are delivered quickly to permit destruction operations to get underway in time to meet the midyear deadline for destroying Syria’s chemical weapons.”
Syria’s government committed to the destruction of its chemical weapons under a deal negotiated by the United States and Russia after an Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack in a suburb of Damascus. The government and insurgent groups blamed each other for that attack, in which a United Nations investigative panel said the deadly nerve agent sarin had been used.
Under the Security Council resolution, Syria promised that all of its chemical weapons would be destroyed by June 30, but it failed to meet at least two deadlines this year. Under pressure from the United States and other countries, the Syrians began to expedite the exports and promised that they would be completed by this Sunday.
Mr. Uzumcu said that with the latest shipment, 86.5 percent of the total supply had been removed, including 88.7 percent of the most dangerous compounds, known as Priority 1 chemicals.Mr. Uzumcu said that with the latest shipment, 86.5 percent of the total supply had been removed, including 88.7 percent of the most dangerous compounds, known as Priority 1 chemicals.
Under the destruction plans, the most dangerous compounds are to be rendered harmless aboard a specially equipped American naval vessel, the MV Cape Ray. The other compounds will be safely incinerated at special facilities in Europe and the United States. Under the destruction plans, the most dangerous compounds are to be rendered harmless aboard a specially equipped American naval vessel, the Cape Ray. The other compounds will be safely incinerated at special facilities in Europe and the United States.
Still unresolved is a dispute over Syria’s 12 chemical production facilities. Syria proposed rendering them inoperable by sealing their entrances. The United States and its allies say the facilities — seven reinforced aircraft shelters and five underground structures — must be destroyed under terms of the treaty. The chemical weapons organization’s executive council is to address this dispute at a meeting on Sunday. Still unresolved is a dispute over Syria’s 12 chemical production facilities. Syria proposed rendering them inoperable by sealing their entrances. The United States and its allies say the facilities must be destroyed under terms of the treaty. The chemical weapons organization’s executive council is to address this dispute at a meeting on Sunday.
Disarmament experts said the organization was unlikely to investigate possible chlorine-bomb use until all of Syria’s known stockpile of banned chemicals had been exported.Disarmament experts said the organization was unlikely to investigate possible chlorine-bomb use until all of Syria’s known stockpile of banned chemicals had been exported.
Dr. Walker noted that Tuesday was the 99th anniversary of the first major use of chemicals in warfare, when Germany deployed 5,700 gas canisters of chlorine against British, Belgian, French and other troops in the trenches of Ypres, Belgium. Chemical arms killed more than 90,000 soldiers and injured more than one million in World War I. Dr. Walker noted that Tuesday was the 99th anniversary of the first major use of chemicals in warfare, when Germany deployed 5,700 gas canisters of chlorine against British, Belgian, French and other troops entrenched in Ypres, Belgium.