HAMILTON, Canada
The UN's high representative for disarmament affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, on Friday welcomed the new Syrian government's pledge to cooperate with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), calling the commitment "commendable."
"Since the Council's last meeting on this matter, the OPCW and the Syrian Arab Republic have continued to engage on how to address outstanding issues related to Syria's chemical weapons dossier," Nakamitsu told the Security Council.
"Given the significant challenges to overcome in these efforts, I welcome the remarkable progress that has been made since the Council's last meeting," she said.
She recalled that since 2014, the OPCW Technical Secretariat has been unable to confirm that the declaration submitted by the previous Syrian authorities was "accurate and complete, because of the insufficient and inaccurate information it contained." Of 26 outstanding issues, 19 remain unresolved.
"In this month's report, the OPCW Technical Secretariat reported that in addition to the 26 declared chemical weapons-related sites, information made available to the OPCW suggests that there are more than 100 other sites that may have been involved in chemical weapons-related activities," she said.
Highlighting the security risks facing OPCW missions in Syria, Nakamitsu said: "The OPCW was forced to postpone this deployment as a result of air strikes carried out by Israel on 16 July, targeting several sites in Damascus, including a building in which the OPCW teams had held several consultations with relevant Syrian authorities and that was located in the direct vicinity of the hotel used by the OPCW teams during its missions in Syria."
"As I have previously emphasized, there are significant challenges ahead, and consistent support from the entire international community will be critical for efforts to rid Syria of all chemical weapons," she said, urging the Council to "unite and show leadership" in OPCW's efforts.
In August 2013, the former Assad regime launched missiles carrying sarin gas, a fast-acting toxic nerve agent, on Ghouta near the capital Damascus, killing more than 1,400 people, including hundreds of children.
In October of that year, Syria joined the OPCW.
In April 2021, OPCW member states voted to suspend some of Syria's membership rights after investigations confirmed the use of chemical weapons in attacks on Al-Lataminah in Hama in 2017 and Idlib in 2018.
In February this year, the new Syrian President, Ahmed al-Sharaa, met in Damascus with a delegation from the OPCW led by Director-General Fernando Arias Gonzalez.
Bashar al-Assad, Syria's leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia on Dec. 8, ending the regime of the Baath Party, which had been in power since 1963.