Syrian chemical weapons program
[1] Prior to September 2013 Syria had not publicly admitted to possessing chemical weapons, although Western intelligence services believed it to hold one of the world's largest stockpiles.
[7] As of the Fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, Syria retained at least some chemical weapons, whose status was thrown into flux with the sudden shift in the Syrian tactical situation.
The Director of the US Defense Intelligence Agency said in 2013 that the Syrian program had never become fully independent, and remained reliant on the importing of precursor chemicals.
[24] In September 2013, a French intelligence report put the Syrian stockpile at over 1,000 tonnes, including nerve agents and their precursors.
[27] According to French intelligence, the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) is responsible for producing toxic agents for use in war.
[28] Syrian chemical weapons production facilities have been identified by Western nonproliferation experts at approximately 5 sites, plus one suspected weapons base:[29][30] Following the Ghouta attacks, Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon suggested that he might request that the United Nations Security Council vote to demand that Syria ratify the CWC.
[35] On 14 September 2013, the United States and Russia announced that they had agreed to a disarmament framework that would eliminate Syria's chemical weapons programs.
[42] On 28 September, US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta stated that the Syrian government had moved its chemical weapons in order to secure them from approaching opposition forces.
[44] On 8 December, it was reported that members of the jihadist Al-Nusra Front had recently captured a Saudi-owned toxic chemicals plant outside of Aleppo.
[46][47][48] Brigadier General Mustafa al-Sheikh, a Syrian army defector, confirmed that most of the chemical weapons have been transported to Alawite areas in Latakia and near the coast.
[50] On 23 December 2012, Al Jazeera released unconfirmed reports that a gas attack killed 7 civilians in the rebel-held al-Bayyada neighbourhood of Homs.
[51] Some American officials felt there was a "compelling case" the government forces had used Agent 15,[52][53] but the White House was initially sceptical.
[3] It is believed the SSRC military research center in Jamraya near Damascus, which Israel struck on 5 May 2013, held chemical weapons.
[69] On 21 August 2013, the area of Ghouta was the scene of an alleged Assad government chemical weapons attack that caused the deaths of 1,300 people according to the opposition Local Coordination Committees and the Syrian National Council.
[70] On 13 April 2013, The Times reported that British military scientists had found forensic evidence of chemical weapons being used in the conflict, after examining a soil sample smuggled out of Syria.
Britain and France sent a confidential letter to the UN, claiming that there was evidence that the Syrian government had used chemical weapons on more than one occasion since December.
Saying that soil samples, witness interviews and opposition sources support charges that nerve agents were used in and around the cities of Aleppo, Homs and possibly Damascus.
[79][80] On 13 June 2013, the United States announced that there was definitive proof that the Assad government had used limited amounts of chemical weapons on multiple occasions on rebel forces, killing 100 to 150 people.
[87] A few days later during a speech given on 31 August 2013 in reaction to the Ghouta chemical attacks, President Obama asked the United States Congress to authorize direct American military intervention in the civil war.
[88] The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations approved the Authorisation for the Use of Military Force Against the Government of Syria to Respond to Use of Chemical Weapons (S.J.Res 21) on 4 September 2013.
"[89] Protests started in Tirana in November 2013 against the Syrian chemical weapons, which were planned to be destroyed in Albania, probably in the city of Elbasan.
The previous day, protesters in Tirana waved placards that read "No to sarin, Yes to oxygen, let us breathe" and "No to chemical weapons in Albania".
One day later, on 15 November more than 5,000 people, mostly students boycotted the lesson and turned out on the Dëshmorët e Kombit Boulevard in Tirana, as well as in the cities of Korçë, Elbasan, Shkodër, Lezhë and Gjirokastër.
During his public speech the PM stated that even if Albania was asked to destroy the chemical weapons, the government wouldn't accept something that is against the will of the Albanians.
[90] After the Fall of the Assad regime on December 8, 2024, international commentators noted that the remaining stocks of chemical weapons in Syria were now unsupervised.
The United States expressed concern that the chaotic tactical situation could lead to such weapons falling into the hands of terrorists.
