After finding Assad-era chemical weapons, Syria establishes task force to find and destroy all remnants

An investigative team discovered a previously undisclosed cache of chemical weapons from the regime of former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad recently, including raw materials and munitions, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported. 

Members of the Syrian government and a team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) found the cache of undeclared weapons on a recent visit by the OPCW team to Syria to locate remnants of the Assad program. 

The OPCW team had come to Syria to investigate several sites reported to have been part of Assad’s illegal chemical weapons program. 

According to a report on the OPCW site, the discoveries included over 70 rockets and aerial bombs, raw ingredients for the production of the nerve agent sarin and related equipment belonging to the former regime, along with thousands of pages of documents related to its chemical weapons program.

Some of the weapons discovered were similar to munitions used by the Assad regime between 2013 and 2017 against rebel groups and the civilian populations where the rebels were based. 

Alongside the discovery of the chemical weapons, Syrian authorities also took 18 suspects into custody for their alleged involvement in Assad’s chemical weapons program, including high-level military, political and technical officials.

Syria's permanent representative to OPCW, Mohamad Katoub, said that at least four of the suspects were on European, UK or U.S. sanctions lists. 

The teams discovered chemical weapons mixing and storage equipment and chemical stabilizers used in the production of sarin in at least three locations.

According to a report by AFP, at least one of the sites searched was Latakia, an area with a large population of people loyal to the Assad regime. There was also a Russian military base in Latakia. 

Syrian officials said that all discovered “materials, munitions, and equipment were transferred to dedicated chemical storage facilities following verification by the Technical Secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, pending their destruction in a manner that ensures the prevention of any risk to civilians, the environment, or national, regional, and global security.” 

At the same time, the Syrian government announced the formation of the “Breath of Freedom” Task Force to complete the task of discovering and destroying any remaining chemical weapons components. 

In a statement to SANA, the Syrian government said it “reaffirms that these efforts are undertaken within the framework of its commitment to eliminating the legacy of chemical weapons, ensuring accountability for those responsible for their use against Syrians, and preventing the recurrence of such crimes, in a manner that strengthens national, regional, and global security and stability, and reflects its commitment to fulfilling its international obligations.”