U.S. Destroys Last of Syria’s Deadliest Chemical Weapons
August 20, 2014
A year-long project to destroy the deadliest chemical weapons in Syria’s military arsenal has been completed, United States President Barack Obama announced on August 18. The announcement came a few days before the first anniversary of a 2013 chemical attack, allegedly by the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, that killed more than 1,400 Syrians civilians, including hundreds of children. The destruction of the chemicals, said President Obama, “sends a clear message that the use of these abhorrent weapons has consequences and will not be tolerated by the international community.” The Assad government has been fighting an open, armed rebellion since 2011.
The neutralization of Syria’s chemical weapons represents a major foreign policy achievement for President Obama, who had threatened military strikes against Syrian forces for their use of the weapons. That threat was put on hold in late September 2013 after Syria began reporting details of its chemical weapons stockpile as part of a deal brokered by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The deal specified that Syria was to submit a “comprehensive listing, including names, types, and quantities of its chemical weapons agents. . . . .” Syria also agreed to give United Nations inspectors “immediate and unfettered” access to all chemical weapons storage, production, research, and development sites.
A United Nations inspector examines dismantled equipment used during the 1980′s and 1990′s in Iraq’s chemical weapons program. (Reuters/Getty Images)
The destruction of the chemicals was overseen by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which won the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize. Based in The Hague, Netherlands, the OPCW was established to enforce the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, which has contributed to the destruction of nearly 80 percent of the world’s stockpile of chemical weapons. About half of Syria’s 1,300-ton (1,180-metric-ton) stockpile was destroyed aboard the U.S.S. Cape Ray, an American military ship, in international waters. The rest of the chemicals were neutralized by facilities in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Finland.
While praising the destruction of the weapons as a “milestone,” Secretary of State Kerry also noted that questions about “discrepancies and omissions” in Syria’s weapons inventory remain. In addition, Syria has yet to destroy its chemical-weapons production facilities. Kerry also said that the Syrian government has continued to use chlorine gas against civilians, despite President Assad’s agreement to give up such attacks.
Additional World Book articles:
- Arab Spring
- The Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a special report)
- Syria: The Roots of Rebellion (a special report)
- Syria 2011 (a Back in Time article)
- Syria 2012 (a Back in Time article)
- Syria 2013 (a Back in Time article)
