Agreement to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons

The destruction of Syria's chemical weapons began in September 2013 on the basis of several international agreements with Syria that stipulated an initial destruction deadline of 30 June 2014. United Nations Security Council Resolution 2118 of 27 September 2013 required Syria to assume responsibility for and follow a timeline for the destruction of its chemical weapons and its chemical weapon production facilities. The resolution bound Syria to the implementation plan presented in a decision of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). On 23 June 2014, the last declared chemical weapons were shipped out of Syria for destruction. The destruction of the most dangerous chemical weapons was performed at sea aboard the Cape Ray, a vessel of the United States Maritime Administration's Ready Reserve Force, crewed with U.S. civilian merchant mariners. The actual destruction operations, performed by a team of U.S. Army civilians and contractors, destroyed 600 metric tons of chemical agents in 42 days. However, despite these efforts, the use of chemical weapons in Syria have continued to be reported, with the latest being the chemical attack on Khan Shaykhun in April 2017, which has been alleged to have been perpetrated by the Syrian government.

The chemical weapons agreements arose at a time when the United States and France headed a coalition of countries on the verge of carrying out air strikes on Syria in response to the 21 August 2013 Ghouta chemical-weapon attacks. To avoid a military intervention, the United States, Russia and Syria agreed to the "Framework for Elimination of Syrian Chemical Weapons" on 14 September 2013, which called for the elimination of Syria's chemical weapon stockpiles by mid-2014. Syria agreed to accede to the Chemical Weapons Convention and to the destruction of its chemical weapons stockpiles.

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