Rebels in southern Syria have asked the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for help in safely disposing of a stockpile of chemical weapons accumulated by President Bashar al-Assad’s government.
“The Syrian people have endured immense suffering and wounds due to the criminal use of internationally banned weapons by the Bashar al-Assad regime against innocent civilians, in flagrant violation of all international conventions and humanitarian values,” the southern Syrian rebels said. in a statement on Saturday (7).
They called on the international community “to support the complete removal of all weapons of mass destruction from Syria.”
The rebels said they wanted to cooperate with the OPCW and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear body, “to investigate the programs and stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction belonging to the criminal regime of Bashar al-Assad .”
However, it was unclear whether southern rebels had taken control of weapons stocks by the time the statement was issued.
Multiple investigations by OPCW fact-finding teams previously concluded that Syrian government forces were responsible for a series of chemical attacks during the Syrian civil war.
Understand the conflict in Syria
Syria’s civil war began during the Arab Spring in 2011, when the regime of Bashar al-Assad suppressed a pro-democracy uprising.
The country was plunged into full-scale conflict when a rebel force was formed, known as the Free Syrian Army, to fight government troops.
Furthermore, the Islamic State, a terrorist group, also managed to gain a foothold in the country and came to control 70% of Syrian territory.
Fighting escalated as other regional actors and world powers — from Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United States to Russia — joined in, escalating the country’s war into what some observers described as a “proxy war.”
Russia has allied with Bashar al-Assad’s government to fight the Islamic State and rebels, while the United States has led an international coalition to repel the terrorist group.
After a ceasefire agreement in 2020, the conflict remained largely “dormant”, with minor clashes between the rebels and the Assad regime.
More than 300,000 civilians have been killed in more than a decade of war, according to the UN, and millions of people have been displaced across the region.
This content was originally published in Syrian rebels ask for international help to deactivate Assad’s chemical weapons on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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