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A senior UN official confirmed to the Security Council that the information provided by the Syrian regime regarding potential undeclared chemical weapons activities is insufficient and has led to the emergence of two new outstanding cases along with Syria’s declaration under the Chemical Weapons Convention.
In his speech addressing the UN Security Council on September 5, 2024, UN Deputy High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Adedeji Ebo explained that the additional information provided by the Syrian regime authorities to the Technical Secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) during the last meeting between the two sides was evaluated as insufficient.
Furthermore, Ebo confirmed that the number of outstanding issues in Syria increased from 24 to 26, of which only 7 have been resolved and 19 remain unresolved, explaining that the concerns raised in July 2024 came from the results of the analysis of samples collected by the evaluation team of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in the duration between September 2020 and April 2023.
In addition, he added that the Technical Secretariat (OPCW) appreciates that the declaration made by the Syrian regime cannot be considered accurate and complete anymore in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention. He called on the United Nations to continue supporting all efforts aimed at strengthening basically the actions against chemical weapons and referring to these horrific weapons documented and revealed throughout history.
In the same context, The Deputy High Representative informed the Security Council about the difficulties related to scheduling the next round of consultations between the Syrian side and the OPCW team and affirmed that the evaluation team would not be able to conduct any field visits during its spreading in mid-September, adding that negotiations process on the relevant dates were still ongoing.
In addition, The Deputy High Representative confirmed that the delay of the deployment of the evaluation team will have a practical impact on the planned timetable for inspections process of the Barzeh and Jamraya facilities which belong to the Scientific Studies and Research Center in Syria.
assad_regime chemical_attack chemical_weapons syria United Nations
