Enab Baladi – Nouran al-Samman
With the growing international interest in the chemical weapons file in Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, questions arise about the fate of the arsenal left behind by the regime, amid estimates that more than 100 sites are suspected to contain chemical weapons in Syria.
While the new Syrian government asserts through Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani its commitment to cooperate with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to destroy the remnants of the Assad regime’s chemical weapons program, questions remain about the locations of these sites, how to deal with them, and which entities may have potentially acquired some of these weapons.
In a report published by The New York Times on April 6, citing the OPCW, it revealed that there are more than 100 suspected sites in Syria containing chemical weapons left after the fall of the previous Syrian regime.
According to the newspaper, the number of sites exceeds previous estimates, considering that this figure represents a “test” for the current Syrian government, which is trying to confirm its openness to the international community.
Concerns over smuggling
The organization’s report confirmed that some sites might be buried in caves or hard-to-find areas using satellite imagery and may contain sarin gas, chlorine, and mustard gas.
Brigadier General Zaher al-Saket played down the importance of the announced number, considering it exaggerated, indicating that most of the weapons were destroyed in Israeli airstrikes.
Conversely, Natasha Hall, a researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, warned that Israeli attacks that occurred shortly after Assad’s fall had little impact on these matters and may have also obscured efforts for accountability.
Following Assad’s fall, Israeli air forces carried out strikes against dozens of Syrian military bases, weapons depots, and facilities that were part of Syria’s chemical and ballistic missile programs.
A Syrian chemist also confirmed that the Military Scientific Studies and Research Center, which belonged to the former Syrian regime and is under international sanctions, was responsible for developing chemical, nuclear, and conventional weapons.
Related sites
Following Assad’s fall, the Turkish Anadolu Agency released aerial footage of a facility near the capital that the ousted Assad regime used to store chemical weapons, according to a source involved in a UN inspection mission that visited Syria in 2013.
The source explained to the agency that the UN team documented quantities of chemical weapons during the inspection at the depot, indicating that the site is one of dozens of chemical weapons depots.
According to the US Department of Justice, the United States, in coordination with the United Kingdom and France, attacked three facilities related to chemical weapons on April 13, 2018, including the Barzeh Research Center, a branch of the chemical and biological studies center, and facilities in the Shinshar area of Homs, which housed equipment for sarin production, in addition to a facility for storing chemical weapons.
There is also the Jamraya military facility, which contains a military research center believed to be linked to chemical weapons production, which Israel targeted in 2013.
Another Israeli report published on Ynetnews in September 2013 indicated five sites for the production of these weapons, most notably the al-Safira facility in Aleppo, which houses the largest defense factory in Syria, in addition to sites in Homs, Latakia, Hama, and Palmyra.
Toxic gas is also being transported to depots in the al-Furqalas area of Homs, al-Dumayr, and Khan Abu al-Shamat in the Damascus countryside, as well as to the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center in Damascus.
Investigations and international moves
On March 28, a team of inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) visited five sites, some of which the Assad government had not previously disclosed to the OPCW, and some of them had been looted or bombed. The team was able to access detailed documents and information about Assad’s chemical weapons program.
Reuters confirmed at the time that the Syrian authorities had provided all possible support and cooperation to members of the inspection team in a short period, with security escorts, and they were given “unrestricted access” to the sites and individuals.
A diplomatic source familiar with the matter told Reuters that the visit clarifies that the Syrian authorities are fulfilling their promise to work with the international community to destroy the chemical weapons once possessed by Assad.
Destroying these chemical weapons was one of the main US conditions for easing the sanctions imposed on Syria.
Transfer of weapons to other parties
The organization noted that the sites were used for research, production, and storage of chemical weapons, pointing out that the former Syrian regime’s president, Bashar al-Assad, used weapons such as sarin gas and chlorine against combatants from opposition factions and Syrian civilians for more than a decade.
On his part, Brigadier General Zaher al-Saket warned of the possibility of there being hidden depots in areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which had a previous relationship with the regime, raising the possibility of hidden depots or weapons being present there.
He also noted the possibility of transferring some weapons outside Syria, specifically to the Popular Mobilization Forces or Hezbollah, especially following the withdrawal of units from the Republican Guard and the Fourth Division loaded with equipment, emphasizing the need for cooperation with Iraq and Lebanon to uncover these sites.
The New York Times report also stated that the new figure was based on intelligence data from member countries, non-profit organizations, and research from abroad.
International concerns
Raed al-Saleh, the director of the Syria Civil Defence Organization (White Helmets) previously and now the Syrian Minister of Emergency and Disaster Affairs, told The New York Times that “many sites have not been disclosed because the previous regime lied about them before the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.”
Meanwhile, the head of the Chemical Violations Documentation Center of Syria, Nidal Shekhani, noted that his team identified dozens of new sites that could be chemical weapons depots or former research sites, based on interviews with Syrian scientists who worked in the government and now live in Europe.
The United States, for its part, called on all parties to facilitate the work of the OPCW, stressing the need to definitively end Assad’s chemical program.
With the announcement of the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, the United States began working to destroy the remaining chemical weapons in Syria, coinciding with Israeli airstrikes targeting various locations in southern Syria.
Axios reported that US officials stated that Washington is working with several other countries in the Middle East to prevent the chemical weapons possessed by the ousted regime “from falling into the wrong hands.”
The US and its allies are concerned that the collapse of the regime’s army and other security forces and the spread of chaos would allow “terrorist groups” to seize dangerous weapons that belonged to the regime.
The American newspaper’s report indicated that the inspectors remain cautious due to past experiences with the previous regime, as the Syrian regime had first agreed to dispose of chemical weapons more than a decade ago. However, as inspectors carried out their work, they became convinced that al-Assad had no intention of disclosing complete information about his stocks.
Former employees disclosed practices that obstruct the inspectors’ work, as happened in 2014 when a convoy was bombed during an inspection operation at a potential site.
A call to break the stalemate
Fernando Arias, the Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, stated on April 7 that “for more than a decade, the chemical weapons file in Syria has been in a state of stagnation, and today we must seize this opportunity together to break this deadlock for the sake of the Syrian people and the international community.”
In this context, al-Saket explained to Enab Baladi that as long as there is cooperation from the new government on this file, everything that follows is considered “secondary.” However, he also emphasized the necessity of not overlooking the possibilities of transferring or concealing these weapons by foreign entities.
He pointed out that the current government does not seek to possess or use this type of weapon but has confirmed its commitment to peace, sending reassurances in this regard, even to Israel, emphasizing that the Syrian people are exhausted from wars and seek a safe life.
He added that over 14 years, the previous regime showed little cooperation with the international community on the chemical weapons issue, while the current government, since assuming responsibility, has shown significant openness and hastened to communicate with the OPCW, “confirming its sincere desire to dismantle this inhuman weapon.”
The ousted Assad regime faced accusations of carrying out dozens of attacks with chemical weapons to suppress the Syrian revolution, and several countries and organizations have repeatedly called for accountability for the Syrian regime for violating the Chemical Weapons Convention, despite its accession to the agreement in 2013.
Chemical weapons remnants: A test for Damascus government Enab Baladi.
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