Syrian Foreign Minister Assad Hassan al-Shibani, who is visiting the headquarters of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, pledged today that all remaining chemical weapons in his country will be destroyed, the Associated Press reported, BTA reported.
Al-Shibani's visit comes a month after OPCW Director Fernando Arias visited Damascus for talks with the country's new leadership after the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.
In The Hague, the Syrian foreign minister said that the new authorities in Damascus are determined to "destroy all remaining chemical weapons from the program developed by the Assad regime to put an end to this painful legacy, bring justice to the victims and ensure that international law is respected stable“.
He noted that Syria “will need the support of the international community together with the OPCW to achieve it“.
OPCW investigators have found evidence of repeated use of chemical weapons by the Assad government during Syria's 14-year civil war.
Last year, the organization found that the “Islamic State“ group had used mustard gas against the town of Marea.
Arias, for his part, said that the OPCW “is ready to support the new Syrian authorities in fulfilling the obligations assumed by the Syrian Arab Republic under the Chemical Weapons Convention“ and promised to send experts to Damascus in the coming days.
Arias also said that the experts would work to establish a permanent OPCW presence in Syria and begin planning visits to suspected chemical weapons sites.
During his visit to The Hague, Ash Shibani also visited the International Criminal Court and met with Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan. Syria is not a member of the court, but prosecutors can support domestic efforts to bring war crimes to justice.