MOSCOW, August 21 (RIA Novosti) - On August 21, 2013, the media reported the large-scale use of chemical weapons by Syrian government forces on the outskirts of Damascus.
US intelligence estimated the death toll at 1,429, including 426 children. After the incident, the belligerents repeatedly claimed that they had nothing to do with the incident and accused each other of perpetrating this outrage. After that, the West started openly discussing a possible intervention.
Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced the stance of those advocating a military solution for the Syrian conflict.
On August 26, UN inspectors started investigating the use of chemical weapons in Syria. They studied the outskirts of Damascus, interviewed those affected by chemical weapons and collected samples, including biological samples.
On September 9, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Syrian President Bashar Assad could avoid a foreign military intervention if he turned over Syria’s chemical weapons to the international community within the next seven days.
Moscow urged Syria to place its chemical weapons under international control, and Syria supported the Russian initiative.
US President Barack Obama said the United States was ready to put off a military operation against Syria if the latter placed its chemical weapons under international control.
On September 13, the media reported that Syria had applied for membership in the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
On September 14, Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kerry reached an agreement on the Syrian issue. Both sides advocated a political settlement of the conflict, military non-involvement and the removal and destruction of any chemical weapons by mid-2014.
On September 16, UN inspectors published their report on the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
A commission investigating the incident in a Damascus suburb cited convincing evidence regarding the use of chemical weapons there on August 21.
A group of UN inspectors said surface-to-surface missiles armed with the Sarin nerve agent had been used against the civilian population of a Damascus suburb.
According to the report, the missiles could have been armed with factory or homemade warheads. A surviving missile engine component was stamped with Cyrillic letters. The report deciphered the caption as “Г ИШ4 25-67-179К.”
Ruslan Pukhov, the director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST), noted that UN inspectors had found Soviet-made ammunition for multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) that had been scrapped by the Syrian Army long ago and, most likely, converted into improvised chemical weapons. US and UK officials said the UN report proved the guilt of the ruling Syrian regime.
In turn, Russia expressed disappointment with the politicized and biased findings of the UN inspectors.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said UN inspectors were not supposed to determine the culprits in the chemical attack in Syria.
On September 28, members of the UN Security Council unanimously passed a resolution on Syria and in support of the OPCW plan to eliminate Syria's chemical arsenal. After approving this plan, the UN Security Council ruled that neither side in Syria could develop, manufacture or otherwise acquire, stockpile or store chemical weapons or to transfer them to any other party.
On October 11, the UN Security Council officially established the OPCW-UN Joint Mission for eliminating the Syrian military chemical weapons program.
On October 14, Syria formally joined the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction (Chemical Weapons Convention).
Damascus said it owned 1,300 metric tons of chemical substances and the precursors being used to make chemical weapons, as well as more than 1,200 unarmed munitions. Moreover, Syria provided information about 41 structures that were located at 23 facilities and which could be used to make chemical weapons.
On October 31, the OPCW officially confirmed the destruction of all officially listed Syrian chemical weapons production equipment.
On November 16, the OPCW Executive Council approved a detailed plan for the elimination of Syrian chemical arsenals. Under its provisions, all materials for making chemical weapons, with the exception of Isopropanol (isopropyl alcohol), were to be removed from Syria by February 5, 2014, and the most dangerous materials were to be removed by December 31, 2013.
More than 60 percent of unarmed munitions were destroyed in Syria by November 2013, according to OPCW officials. All unarmed munitions were to be eliminated no later than January 31, 2014.
The facilities linked with Syrian chemical arsenals were to be consistently eliminated from December 15, 2013 until March 15, 2014. The statement also noted that chemical weapons would be removed from Syria for subsequent elimination.
On December 27, 2013, OPCW officials said Syrian authorities had completely fulfilled an agreement to eliminate third-category (unarmed) munitions earlier than planned, that is, ahead of the January 31, 2014 deadline. Moreover, officials from the OPCW-Joint Mission confirmed the destruction of 64 percent of officially registered empty Syrian containers and cylinders for storing chemical substances, as well as the destruction of eight mobile chemical weapons production facilities. Equipment was also destroyed at seven other facilities.
On February 21, 2014, Syrian authorities submitted to the OCPW a new plan for removing chemical weapons that envisaged the removal of all the chemicals from the country by April 27. The initial plan to remove highly toxic substances was not fulfilled due to the unstable situation in Syria.
On April 24, Sigrid Kaag, the head and special coordinator of the OPCW-UN Joint Mission, said about 92.5 percent of Syrian chemical weapons had already been eliminated or removed from the country.
On June 23, OPCW director general Ahmet Uzumcu said Syria had transferred the remaining 8 percent of its chemical substances to his organization for elimination.
Over 600 metric tons of the most toxic substances were taken out of Syria for elimination aboard a roll-on/roll-off ship in the US Ready Reserve Force, in international waters using two Field Deployable Hydrolysis Systems (FDHS). Several countries provided logistics and material assistance for this operation.
As of early August, military and civilian experts had destroyed 100 percent of all Sarin nerve gas removed from Syria aboard the Cape Ray in the Mediterranean Sea, according to Pentagon sources.
In all, 581 metric tons of the poisonous gas was destroyed. Pentagon experts moved to neutralize about 20 metric tons of chemical substances for making Yperite (mustard gas), another dangerous chemical weapon, and this is to be completed in late August.
Second-category chemicals, 1,300 metric tons of which, were delivered for destruction to commercial companies in Finland, the United States and Britain. As of July 21, 2014, 31.8 percent of these substances were eliminated, according to OPCW sources. On August 6, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said all Syrian chemical weapons delivered to the United Kingdom had been destroyed. The United Kingdom received about 150 metric tons of precursors and over 40 metric tons of industrial/commercial hydrogen chloride and hydrogen fluoride or 15 percent of all Syrian chemicals.
The OPCW Executive Council adopted a decision regarding the elimination of 12 former Syrian chemical weapons production facilities and their subsequent inspection. Sigrid Kaag, OPCW-UN Joint Mission special coordinator, said it would take about six months to render inoperable the remaining 12 facilities affiliated with the Syrian chemical weapons program.
