US sceptical over Syria's chemical weapons declaration
Washington's UN envoy voices doubt over Syria's full co-operation with Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons inspectors
The United States is sceptical about Syria’s declaration of its chemical weapons to an international watchdog and is still checking its accuracy, a top US envoy said on Tuesday.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agreed to destroy all his banned chemical arms by mid-2014 as part of a Russia-US deal that headed off the threat of a US military strike.
Samantha Power, Washington’s envoy to the United Nations, said experience dealing with Assad has led to US “scepticism”.
“The chemical weapons agreement and implementation has not changed the US position on Assad."
Other Western envoys say their countries also have strong doubts about a 700-page declaration of Syria’s chemical weapons sites and arms made to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
Damascus has also met a deadline to destroy its chemical and weapons production facilities and been praised for its co-operation by international inspectors.
But “more work of course remains to be done to ensure that the Syrian government’s list of declared sites is comprehensive and that the process remains on track, particularly as we enter the destruction phase,” Power said.
