The United States is working through its partners in Syria to ensure that chemical weapons from the ousted regime of Bashar al-Assad do not fall into the wrong hands, the Pentagon said on Monday.
“On the issue of chemical weapons, that’s something we’re focused on,” said Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh.
“I think you’ve probably heard that the White House has talked about this as well, but through the work of our other partners, we’re trying to make sure that these chemical weapons don’t get into the hands of anyone who wants to use them against civilians, or against our US or partner forces in the region,” he added.
“But I don’t have an additional assessment to give you about the constitution of where they are in the country,” he added.
Singh declined to detail the size of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile, and said there are no U.S. forces involved in “hunting” for them.
She did not respond to a question about whether the US was providing intelligence to other groups to locate them.
“We have experience in this issue and we are doing this through our partners on the ground to ensure these weapons do not fall into the wrong hands,” she said.
A senior Biden administration official told reporters on Sunday that any remaining chemical weapons in Syria were a “top priority.”
Since the incredibly quick fall of brutal Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime over the weekend, the stance for the roughly 900 U.S. military personnel in the country has not changed, Singh added.
There has been no direct communication between the U.S. military and the rebel group at the center of the regime’s overthrow, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), although Singh said the U.S. “certainly [têm] counterparties and other groups that have ways of delivering messages to HTS and other rebel groups.”
Meanwhile, the US has spoken to Russia through the line established in Syria recently, a US official told CNN . It’s unclear what the conversation was specifically about. Assad and his family fled to Russia, which has been one of the regime’s main allies.
Ultimately, Singh said the fall of the Assad regime “is a fundamental act of justice.”
This content was originally published in USA says it works to ensure that Syria’s chemical weapons do not fall “into the wrong hands” on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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