Syria meets crucial deadline
List of chemical sites, destruction plan submitted
GAZIANTEP, Turkey — The Syrian government has met an international deadline to submit a detailed declaration of its chemical weapons facilities and a proposal to destroy its toxic arsenal, the group overseeing the disarmament process said Sunday.
The determination means the plan crafted by the U.S. and Russia to do away with Syria’s extensive chemical stockpile is on pace, even as Syria is convulsed by civil conflict that is in its third year.
Syria had until Sunday to present its declaration of chemical facilities and a related proposal for destruction to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, The Hague-based group supervising the elimination of the country’s chemical stockpiles.
Damascus had provided an initial inventory of its chemical sites, but the new filing is considered more comprehensive.
In a news release Sunday, the organization said Syria had submitted the required documentation Thursday. Group officials have repeatedly praised the Syrian government for its cooperation and predicted that Sunday’s deadline would be met.
No details of the Syrian government’s submission were made public. In general, the group said, such declarations “provide the basis on which plans are devised for a systematic, total and verified destruction of declared chemical weapons and production facilities.”
In September, Syria, under pressure from Russia, its close ally, agreed to the destruction of its chemical arsenal, which dates to the 1970s. The chemical munitions were long viewed in Damascus as a strategic deterrence to any attack from neighboring Israel, be- lieved to be the region’s only nuclear-armed state.
This month, Syria became the 190th nation to join the Chemical Weapons Convention, a treaty banning members from using, producing or stockpiling chemical arms.
Syria’s decision to accept the elimination of its chemical stockpiles helped head off threatened airstrikes by the United States in retaliation for Damascus’ use of poison gas this summer against rebel-held districts.
Many Syrian opposition advocates were disappointed by Washington’s decision not to attack Syria and complained that the chemical pact had thrown a lifeline to Syrian President Bashar Assad.
International inspectors have been in Syria since Oct. 1 — the start of the ambitious, U.N.-backed mission to destroy Syria’s chemical stockpiles by mid-2014.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons faces a Friday deadline to neutralize Syria’s ability to produce more chemical weapons. Inspectors have been working to render inoperable all equipment needed to mix and fill chemical agents into munitions. Officials say they have made considerable progress and expect to meet the deadline.
The undertaking is considered unprecedented because it is being carried out in the midst of a civil war.
Inspectors in Syria have visited 19 of the 23 chemical weapons sites initially identified by Syrian authorities, according to the organization. Several sites yet to be inspected are reported to be near conflict zones and may require limited cease-fires to enable access, according to the group.
Syria’s plan for weapons destruction will now go before the organization’s executive council for consideration, the group said.
Aconsiderable amount of equipment, including unarmed missile warheads, bombs and mixing and filling machines, has been destroyed, mostly using lowtech equipment such as sledgehammers, chain saws and bulldozers, the organization has said. Syrian personnel destroy the equipment under the supervision of international inspectors, experts say.
The more complex task, the destruction of toxic agents, lies ahead.
Authorities are considering a number of options, including incineration. Whether the material can all be destroyed in Syria remains a major question.
Some experts have suggested that certain agents may have to be moved outside Syria to be eliminated. The ongoing fighting in Syria could complicate efforts to do away with the toxins in Syria.
Last week, Norway rejected a U.S. request to destroy some of the chemical agents on Norwegian soil. Oslo cited legal and technical limitations.
Several other nations have reportedly been approached to assist in the destruction process.