Image source: OPCW
On January 13, 2025, the Arms Control Association website published an article addressing the state of “uncertainty” regarding the status of the chemical weapons eradication program in Syria, particularly following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime on December 8, 2024.
The article, titled “Fate of Syrian Chemical Weapons Uncertain After Assad’s Fall”, was written by Mina Razi, Project Coordinator of the Chemical Weapons Convention Coalition at the Arms Control Association.
According to the author, there is a state of “uncertainty” concerning the status of the chemical weapons eradication program and the potential contamination caused by strikes on military installations, despite international experts having strengthened their monitoring of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile since the fall of the former regime.
The United States is awaiting confirmation on whether remnants of Assad’s chemical weapons stockpile will be discovered. Meanwhile, The New York Times on December 25 predicted it remains unclear whether chemical weapons have surfaced at all, and if they do, what might happen to them or who would be responsible for their disposal
In an emergency meeting of the Executive Council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on December 12, 2024, Director-General Fernando Arias confirmed that airstrikes had targeted military facilities belonging to the former Syrian regime. At the time, he stated, “We do not know whether these strikes have impacted sites related to chemical weapons,” but warned that they “may pose a risk of contamination.”
Arias pointed out that the political and security situation in Syria “remains volatile” and cautioned that attacks on chemical sites could also lead to the “destruction of valuable evidence” necessary for investigations being conducted by various independent international bodies into the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons. He added that such attacks might result in the “loss of dangerous chemicals or equipment without any control.”
On December 19, 2024, U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer stated that the United States is prioritizing the future of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile after Assad’s fall. He emphasized that the U.S. will work with the OPCW and regional countries to locate, secure, and dispose of any remaining chemical weapons stockpiles.
For years, the OPCW Technical Secretariat, through its Declaration Assessment Team, has worked to address gaps, discrepancies, and inconsistencies in the initial declaration submitted by Syria to the OPCW in 2013.
Despite these efforts, significant concerns remain about the accuracy and completeness of the declaration, as well as the fate of large quantities of unregistered chemical weapons. These unresolved issues continue to be a major obstacle to fully verifying the dismantling of Syria’s chemical weapons program.
Since 2013, the OPCW Technical Secretariat and other independent international investigative bodies have documented and investigated the use of toxic chemicals as weapons in Syria. The findings of the OPCW play a critical role in supporting accountability for violations of international law and atrocities involving the use of toxic chemicals as weapons.
