BEIRUT (AP) — A delegation from the global chemical weapons watchdog was in Damascus on Saturday for talks with Syria’s new leaders for the first time since the fall of former President Bashar Assad.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, or OPCW, had found evidence of repeated use of chemical weapons by Assad’s government during Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war.
Syria joined the OPCW in 2013 to ward off the threat of airstrikes in response to a chemical attack on the outskirts of Damascus, and Assad denied using chemical weapons. Last year, the organization also found the Islamic State group had used mustard gas against the town of Marea.
The delegation, which met with President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, includes technical experts who hope to make contact with their Syrian counterparts. Since the overthrow of the Assad government, the Qatari embassy in The Hague has acted as the intermediary between the new leadership and the OPCW.
OPCW Director-General Fernando Arias said in a statement that the talks were “long, productive and very open” and that the visit was “a first step towards re-establishing a direct working relationship between the OPCW... and Syria, following eleven years of stagnation and lack of progress with the former authorities.”
Arias said the meetings had focused on Syria's responsibilities under the Chemical Weapons Convention and on the support OPCW could offer in “eliminating the remnants of Syria’s chemical weapons program.”
The fate of the country’s stockpile of toxic chemicals spurred an emergency meeting by the OPCW days after Assad was overthrown in a lightning rebel offensive in December. The organization told Syria’s new rulers that they must comply with rules to safeguard and destroy dangerous substances, such as chlorine gas.
OPCW officials also voiced concerns that a barrage of Israeli airstrikes that hit military sites of the former Syrian army may have led to contamination with toxic substances or destruction of evidence.
The OPCW’s 193 member states are required to disclose their chemical weapons programs and dismantle them. The organization, created in 1997 by the Chemical Weapons Convention, seeks to eliminate all chemical weapons. It was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013 for its work.
The organization initially made some progress in cataloging Syria’s stockpile of restricted chemicals, including sarin and chlorine, but a deteriorating relationship with the Assad government made further inspections impossible. Saturday’s visit is the first time OPCW officials have been to Syria since 2022.
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Quell reported from The Hague, Netherlands.
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