Syria's government said they have discovered traces of former President Bashar al-Assad's covert chemical weapons program, including munitions and raw materials similar to those used to carry out lethal gas attacks during the country's protracted civil war, Reuters reported.
According to an interview with Mohamad Katoub, Syria's permanent representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, 18 suspects, including high-level military, political, and technical officials, have been detained by Syrian authorities on suspicion of being involved in Assad's chemical weapons program.
He added that several of the suspects had been senior generals under the Assad government and that the identities of the accused were not disclosed because the inquiry was still in progress.
According to him, at least four were on lists of sanctions imposed by the United States, the United Kingdom, or Europe.
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After a 14-year civil conflict, Syria emerged as a Western friend and pledged to cooperate with the international community to eliminate any leftover WMDs that could lead to their proliferation.
In a report released on Tuesday, the OPCW stated that its team in Syria had accompanied Syrian authorities to several high-priority undeclared locations in the central and northern coastal regions. It stated that although the mission was still in progress, "dozens of undeclared chemical munitions such as aerial bombs and rockets, as well as separately found chemicals and related equipment" had been identified.
Over 70 rockets and aerial bombs, as well as raw materials for the manufacture of sarin, a nerve agent used by Assad's forces in attacks that killed over 1,300 people in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta in August 2013 and Al-Lataminah in March 2017, were found by Syrian teams working with OPCW inspectors for months, according to Katoub.
During searches at three locations, hexamine — a stabilising substance known to have been utilised by Assad's forces in the manufacturing of sarin — and chemical weapon mixing and storage equipment were also discovered.
"Today we delivered for the Syrian people and for the world, despite the secrecy, the danger, and the enormous security challenges," Katoub declared.
"It is the first time such munitions could be recovered before they were ​used in crimes against the Syrian people."
According to him, safeguarding and storing the discovered materials promotes both national and international security.
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Sarin, chlorine, and sulfur mustard gas were all often employed by the Assad regime, according to earlier joint investigations by the United Nations and the international chemical weapons watchdog in The Hague.
Up to 100 locations throughout Syria need to be assessed, according to the OPCW, which is in charge of the international prohibition on hazardous bombs.
Syria reported a 1,300-ton stockpile after signing the Chemical Weapons Convention in 2013, but its use was still forbidden. It's still unclear how big the remaining program and stockpile are.
Syria unveiled a proposal in March to get rid of its old chemical weapons, which Washington backed.
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