Syria still possess chemical weapons – Pentagon
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The U.S. Department of Defense (Pentagon) announced on Tuesday that it believes Syria still possesses a stockpile of chemical weapons and is actively working to locate them to prevent their potential use.
Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh emphasized that Washington is collaborating with its partners to ensure that “those chemical weapons do not fall into the hands of anyone that would want to use them against civilians or against our US forces or partners in the region.”
Singh refrained from providing details about the U.S.’s partners, saying, “We’re working with partners on the ground. I’m just not going to get into more specifics on who that is.”
For years, both the toppled Syrian regime and Russian forces on one side, and opposition forces on the other, have traded accusations of deploying chemical weapons during the ongoing conflict.
Meanwhile, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has expressed concern over the latest developments in Syria, urging the country to adhere to its commitments under the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Although the OPCW declared in February 2016 that Syria’s declared chemical arsenal had been fully destroyed, it has since maintained that Syria’s disclosures regarding its chemical weapons program remain incomplete and unreliable.