Syrian president Bashar al-Assad says he sees 'no obstacles' to chemical weapons deal
UN experts arrive in Damascus to resume their investigations into alleged use of chemical weapons
Syria is committed to a deal to hand over its chemical weapons, President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview, as major powers inched closer to a UN resolution enshrining the agreement.
The Syrian president, in the interview with Venezuelan television station Telesur broadcast on Wednesday, said he saw “no obstacles” to a plan under which Damascus will relinquish its chemical arms.
His comments came as UN experts arrived in Damascus to resume their investigations into around 14 incidents in which chemical weapons are alleged to have been used.
Syria is generally committed to all the agreements that it signs
Assad told Telesur that his government was committed to the Chemical Weapons Convention, which it signed as part of the US-Russian agreement on the destruction of its chemical arsenal.
“Syria is generally committed to all the agreements that it signs,” he said in the interview, which was published in full by the Syrian state news agency Sana on Thursday.
He said Damascus had begun to send the required details of its chemical arsenal to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons which is overseeing the deal, and that OPCW inspectors were expected to visit Syria.
“Experts (from the OPCW) will come to Syria in the coming period to look into the status of these weapons,” he said.