Inspectors: Only One Syrian Chemical Weapons Site Remains

Aleppo Site Confirmed Abandoned Long Ago

When the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed all chemical weapons manufacturing equipment destroyed in Syria last week, there were two storage sites that they hadn’t visited because they were too dangerous.

One of those two sites was checked off the list today, in Aleppo Province, confirmed as previously reported to have been long abandoned and dismantled. The building is said to have sustained major damage in the ongoing civil war.

The OPCW has confirmed several deadlines already met by Syria, and today’s report once again confirms good progress being made, though the questions of how the disarmament can continue with funding expected to run out in a matter of weeks remains unanswered.

The vast majority of Syria’s chemical arsenal is in the form of unweaponized chemicals. Their neutralization is expected to take place abroad, since the civil war makes the process difficult to do domestically, though with both Lebanon and Norway refusing to take the chemicals in, it remains to be seen where they’ll actually wind up.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.