Syria Commences Destruction of Chemical Weapons in Historic Break with the Assad Era

Syria has initiated the destruction of chemical weapon materials identified in cooperation with the global watchdog, the country's UN envoy announced.

“This is the very first destruction process since we have been liberated from the previous regime [of president Bashar Al Assad in December 2024],” Ibrahim Olabi informed the UN Security Council. “It’s also the first of its kind to destroy chemical materials on Syrian territory for over a decade.”

Mr Olabi stated that Syria’s collaboration with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons represented a “profound political transformation in Syria’s approach to safeguarding the multilateral system.”

For over ten years, Syria’s chemical weapons programme served as an emblem of the civil war’s violence. Investigators and human rights organizations previously recorded multiple deployments of banned agents, such as sarin and chlorine gas, by the former regime in assaults that resulted in thousands of civilian casualties.

Mr Olabi emphasized that securing chemical weapons facilities and locating munitions would prevent hazardous materials from reaching unauthorized individuals. “Every site that is secured, every ammunition that is identified, does not merely remove a danger to Syria but the entire world,” he said. “Syria, and on behalf of the international community, is preparing to hold the first court hearing for the use of such weapons to ensure that there will be no impunity.”

Meanwhile, Russia 's UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya criticized the OPCW for allegedly politicising its investigation into Syria and cast doubt on conclusions connecting the former regime to chemical weapons violations.

Mr Nebenzya told council members that Moscow, a long-standing ally of Al Assad, backed a rapid resolution regarding outstanding matters concerning Syria's initial declaration under the Chemical Weapons Convention. He accused the OPCW’s technical secretariat of prolonging the procedure for over a decade.

“Today's work of the technical secretariat serves one purpose: to find so-called concealed elements of the military chemical programme in the Syrian Arab Republic, with a focus on accusing the former government of crimes using chemical weapons,” he stated.

Mr Nebenzya added that Russia maintained “reasonable doubts” regarding findings attributed to the former Syrian government in monthly reports by the OPCW, maintaining that “any statements must be backed up by clear, verifiable evidence.”