THE HAGUE: Syria’s foreign minister on Wednesday pledged to destroy the chemical weapons stockpiles built up under ousted leader Bashar al-Assad, in a historic speech to the OPCW global watchdog.

Asaad al-Shaibani was the first ever Syrian representative to address the executive council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague. Former president Assad was repeatedly accused of using chemical weapons during Syria’s 13-year civil war, and there has been widespread concern about the fate of Syria’s stocks since his Dec 8 ouster.

“The Assad regime chemical weapons programme represents one of the darkest chapters in both Syria and the world’s history,” Shaibani told delegates.

More than a decade ago, Syria agreed to hand over its declared stockpile for destruction, but the OPCW believes the declaration was incomplete and more weapons remain unaccounted for.

Shaibani vowed to “rebuild Syria’s future for a foundation of transparency, justice, cooperation with the international community.” “This chemical weapons programme, created under the Assad era, is not our programme... Nevertheless, our commitment is to dismantle whatever may be left from it, to put an end to this painful legacy,” he said.

Assad’s ouster has offered a “new and historic opportunity” to finally document and destroy the chemical weapons stockpile in Syria, OPCW Director-General Fernando Arias told delegates in an opening speech on Tuesday.

Last month, Arias met Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in a first visit to Damascus since Islamist-led rebels toppled Assad. “With this visit, we started to lay the foundation for cooperation with the new Syrian authorities based on trust and transparency,” said Arias. “All this marks a significant break with the past.”

The OPCW wants to establish a permanent presence in Syria to draw up an inventory of chemical weapons sites, and start the destruction of the stockpiles. The organisation has expressed concern that valuable evidence may have been destroyed in the intense Israeli bombing of Syrian military assets that followed Assad’s overthrow.

Israel has said suspected chemical weapons sites were among its targets as it sought to stop the assets from falling into the hands of “extremists”.

The strikes “create additional challenges to the logistical, technical, and practical ones”, acknowledged Shaibani.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2025