Ahmet Uzumcu, head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, told journalists in The Hague on Monday that the last remnants of chemical weapons material under the control of the regime of Syrian president Bashar Assad has been removed from the country. “Removing the stockpile of precursor and other chemicals has been a fundamental condition in the program to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons,” Uzumcu said. He added that infrastructure for producing new material inside Syria would still need to be demolished. However, intelligence agencies have accused the regime of using chlorine and other industrial elements in attacks against several areas controlled by rebel factions in recent months. Meanwhile, Israeli defense officials are quietly encouraging the US and other Western powers to make more serious efforts to contain the crisis in Syria following its apparent spillover into neighboring Iraq. Read More
