Türkiye joins task force to eliminate remnants of Assad regime’s chemical weapons program in Syria

ISTANBUL

Türkiye has joined a task force established to support efforts in Syria to eliminate chemical weapons remnants inherited from the ousted Assad regime, responding to an invitation from the Syrian government.

According to Turkish Foreign Ministry sources, a decision was adopted on Oct. 10, 2025 at the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to support Syria in the accelerated on-site destruction of remaining chemical weapons remnants.

While the Chemical Weapons Convention places the responsibility for destroying such weapons on individual states, due to the ousted Assad regime’s covert conduct of its chemical weapons program, its refusal to cooperate with the OPCW, the unknown fate of records pertaining to the chemical weapons program from the former regime’s era and the lack of capacity for destruction, a process had been initiated to provide support to Syria from the international community.

In parallel with this process, the Syrian government established an international task force in cooperation with the OPCW to locate, verify, secure and destroy the remnants of the country’s chemical weapons program.

Through this mechanism, referred to by Syria as the “Breath of Freedom Task Force,” it is envisaged that technical, logistical and training support will be provided to the Syrian government in the face of these challenges and that the international community’s support for this purpose will be coordinated.

In addition to Türkiye and Syria, the task force members include Qatar, the US, the UK, France, Germany, Canada and the OPCW Technical Secretariat.

The task force members are generally expected to provide the necessary training and equipment to ensure that reconnaissance activities conducted by Syrian teams in the field are carried out safely, as well as to support the secure containment, storage and planned destruction of any chemical weapons and residues identified.

They are also expected to provide technical support for on-site destruction where safe storage is not feasible and to make concrete contributions to addressing Syria’s capacity gaps in order to strengthen the resilience of its health infrastructure against chemical risks.

A ceremony marking the official launch of the task force’s activities was held in New York on Wednesday with the participation of officials from member countries.
Türkiye was represented at the event by its Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Ahmet Yildiz.

- Türkiye’s contributions to the task force

In cooperation with the Syrian government, Türkiye has been carrying out humanitarian demining activities in various parts of Syria, contributing to the disposal of unexploded ordnance as well as providing active political, technical and logistical support within the framework of the task force and OPCW-led international efforts.

In this context, Türkiye hosted a workshop in Ankara on Feb. 16-17 with the participation of experts from task force member countries and the OPCW.

The workshop assessed in detail the operational, technical and institutional capacity gaps in eliminating remnants of the former Assad regime’s chemical weapons program and helped structure support packages to be provided to Syria.