THE HAGUE: Inspectors have verified all but one of Syria’s 23 declared chemical weapons sites, the world’s watchdog said yesterday, after filming a site that was difficult to access because of the war.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said that Syrian personnel had visited one of two remaining sites that they could not visit for security reasons and filmed it with “sealed cameras.”
OPCW and UN inspectors have until mid-2014 to destroy Syria’s entire chemical arsenal and production facilities under the terms of a US-Russian deal to head off military strikes on President Bashar Al Assad’s regime.
“The verification was conducted with the support of sealed cameras used by Syrian personnel as per the inspection team’s guidance,” the Hague-based OPCW said in a statement.
“The exact geographical location and the time of capture of the footage/images were fully authenticated,” it said, adding that the site was in the region of northwestern city Aleppo, a centre of fighting against Assad’s regime.
“As per the declaration by Syria, the site was confirmed as dismantled and long abandoned with the building showing extensive battle damage,” the OPCW said.
Syria is cooperating with the disarmament operation and has said it had approximately 1,290 tonnes of chemical weapons and agents as well as 1,230 unfilled chemical munitions.
Syria has already destroyed 99 warheads and is expected to destroy 55 more, with Syrian officials reportedly in The Hague facing a November 15 deadline to finalise the plan for the destruction of the chemical arsenal.
AFP
