Sep 21, 2013
"OPCW has confirmed that it has received the expected disclosure from the Syrian government regarding its chemical weapons programme," the organization announced on its website. "The Technical Secretariat is currently reviewing the information received."
The watchdog had announced Friday that the handover of information from the Syrian government was incomplete, but this claim was reversed by its Saturday statement.
The timeline for Syria's chemical weapons disarmament was set by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who gave Syria until Saturday to reveal its full chemical arsenal. Syria is believed to possess approximately 1,000 tons of chemical weapons.
As Syria meets its first deadline, the U.S. and Russia remain sharply divided over key issues. The U.S. holds that the Syrian government was responsible for the August 21st Al-Ghouta chemical attacks, even though the recent UN confirming chemical weapons use did not determine culpability. Russian officials argue that it is still not clear who is responsible for the chemical attacks and claim there is evidence forces opposing the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were behind them.
Furthermore, the US government insists on maintaining threat of force throughout the disarmament process. Russian officials stand opposed to the continued threats and against invoking the UN's Chapter VII resolution without evidence of Syrian noncompliance, arguing this would be disruptive to efforts to achieve a peaceful solution.
_____________________
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare was a staff writer for Common Dreams from 2013-2016. She is currently web editor and reporter for In These Times.
"OPCW has confirmed that it has received the expected disclosure from the Syrian government regarding its chemical weapons programme," the organization announced on its website. "The Technical Secretariat is currently reviewing the information received."
The watchdog had announced Friday that the handover of information from the Syrian government was incomplete, but this claim was reversed by its Saturday statement.
The timeline for Syria's chemical weapons disarmament was set by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who gave Syria until Saturday to reveal its full chemical arsenal. Syria is believed to possess approximately 1,000 tons of chemical weapons.
As Syria meets its first deadline, the U.S. and Russia remain sharply divided over key issues. The U.S. holds that the Syrian government was responsible for the August 21st Al-Ghouta chemical attacks, even though the recent UN confirming chemical weapons use did not determine culpability. Russian officials argue that it is still not clear who is responsible for the chemical attacks and claim there is evidence forces opposing the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were behind them.
Furthermore, the US government insists on maintaining threat of force throughout the disarmament process. Russian officials stand opposed to the continued threats and against invoking the UN's Chapter VII resolution without evidence of Syrian noncompliance, arguing this would be disruptive to efforts to achieve a peaceful solution.
_____________________
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare was a staff writer for Common Dreams from 2013-2016. She is currently web editor and reporter for In These Times.
"OPCW has confirmed that it has received the expected disclosure from the Syrian government regarding its chemical weapons programme," the organization announced on its website. "The Technical Secretariat is currently reviewing the information received."
The watchdog had announced Friday that the handover of information from the Syrian government was incomplete, but this claim was reversed by its Saturday statement.
The timeline for Syria's chemical weapons disarmament was set by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who gave Syria until Saturday to reveal its full chemical arsenal. Syria is believed to possess approximately 1,000 tons of chemical weapons.
As Syria meets its first deadline, the U.S. and Russia remain sharply divided over key issues. The U.S. holds that the Syrian government was responsible for the August 21st Al-Ghouta chemical attacks, even though the recent UN confirming chemical weapons use did not determine culpability. Russian officials argue that it is still not clear who is responsible for the chemical attacks and claim there is evidence forces opposing the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were behind them.
Furthermore, the US government insists on maintaining threat of force throughout the disarmament process. Russian officials stand opposed to the continued threats and against invoking the UN's Chapter VII resolution without evidence of Syrian noncompliance, arguing this would be disruptive to efforts to achieve a peaceful solution.
_____________________
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.