Syria chemical equipment ‘destroyed’

Syria has destroyed its chemical weapons production and mixing capabilites, an arms watchdog said on Thursday, surprising some experts by completing on schedule the first stage of a disarmament process called for by the UN Security Council.

Russia suggested its ally give up its chemical weapons programme after an alleged sarin attack on the rebellious Damascus suburbs killed several hundred people and raised the prospect of punitive US airstrikes in August. Inspectors from the The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have been in the country to oversee the process, which is supposed to be completed by mid-2014.

Their first priority was to eliminate the regime’s capacity to manufacture more chemical weapons by November 1, and on Thursday the body released a statement saying that it had “verified – and seen destroyed – all of Syria’s declared critical production and mixing/filling equipment”.

“I would consider it a significant first step – it took a certain level of co-operation from the Assad regime to achieve this,” said Michael Elleman, a former UN weapons inspector in Iraq and fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies think-tank. Moscow, he said, had so far “delivered” its ally. “There’s a lot of incentive on the Russians part to make the Syrians co-operate fully – their reputation is hanging in the balance; they’re the ones that pushed for this deal.”

Fighting prevented inspectors from visiting two sites, though the OPCW said they were satisfied they did not contain any of the declared production or mixing equipment. The statement cited the Syrian government as saying that the inaccessible sites were already abandoned. “They’ll have to go to them eventually otherwise some member states in the UN will say you haven’t completed this job,” said Mr Elleman.

Experts warn that the second stage of the process – the verified destruction of all chemical weapons stockpiles – would be hard to complete at the best of times, let alone during a civil war. “The November 1 deadline is small potatoes,” said Dan Kaszeta, defence consultant and former US army chemical officer, who added that the next stage of the process could take “years”.

Safely disposing of the chemical weapons stocks is a complicated proposition, Mr Kaszeta said. “It’s not like you can just throw this stuff down on the drain or drag it out in the desert and set it on fire.” Last week Norway rejected a US request to receive and destroy some of the stocks.