Syria's Foreign Minister told the global chemical weapons guard that the new government is committed to destroying all other stocks produced under the overthrown President Bashar al -Assad.
Turning to a meeting of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, Asaaad al-Sh-Shibani promised to “end this painful heritage to lead to the justice of the victims and to ensure that compliance with international law is solid.”
But he added that Syria would “need the support of the international community.”
The Assad government has ever denied to use chemical weapons during the 14-year Civil War, but activists have accused him of doing dozens of chemical attacks.
In 2013, rockets containing a nerve agent Sarin were fired in several suburbs, held by rebels in Eastern and Western Guta, killing hundreds of people. UN experts confirmed the use of the nerve agent Sarin, but they were not asked to attribute any guilt.
Assad denied his strength to fire the rockets, but he agreed to sign the CWC Convention (CWC) and allow a joint OPCW-UN mission to destroy the announced chemical arsenal in Syria. However, there were questions about the accuracy and completeness of Syria's declaration.
The OPCW investigation and identification team documented numerous uses of chemical weapons during the war, identifying Syrian military as the perpetrator of five cases of use of chemical weapons in 2017 and 2018.
They included the attack in April 2018 against the Duma, in the Eastern Guta, when it is believed that a Syrian Air Force helicopter has removed two cylinders filled with highly concentrated chlorine gas on two residential buildings, killing at least 43 people.
An earlier OPCW fact-detection mission, which was not authorized to identify perpetrators, also found that chemical weapons were used or was probably used in 20 other cases.
Last month, OPCW CEO Fernando Arias visited Damascus to make talks with fucking and temporary Syrian President Ahmed Al Sharaa, who led the rebels offensive, which removed Assad in December.
At the Wednesday meeting, Arias said that the “developing political landscape in Syria” provides the international community “New and Historical Ability to complete the removal of the chemical weapons program in Syria”.
He said a team of technical experts from OPCW will be located in Damascus in the coming days and will start planning visits to suspect chemical weapons.
Fucking also met with the Attorney General of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, in the Hague on Wednesday.
ICC said their negotiations “followed the January visit to the prosecutor to Damascus, examining partnerships for crime accountability committed in Syria.”
Syria is not a member of the ICC, but Khan said the new government could accept court jurisdiction as a first step, as Ukraine has made the war with Russia.