Syria chemical weapons program

Syria's chemical weapons program began in the 1970s with weapons and training from Egypt and the Soviet Union, with production of chemical weapons in Syria beginning in the mid-1980s. Prior to September 2013 Syria had not publicly admitted to possessing chemical weapons, although Western intelligence services believed it to hold one of the world's largest stockpiles. In September 2013, French intelligence put the Syrian stockpile at 1,000 tonnes, including Yperite, VX and "several hundred tonnes of sarin". At the time, Syria was one of a handful of states which had not ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. In September 2013, Syria joined the CWC (formally acceding on 14 October), and agreed to the destruction of its weapons, to be supervised by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), as required by the Convention. A joint OPCW-United Nations mission was established to oversee the destruction process. Syria joined OPCW after international condemnation of the August 2013 Ghouta chemical attack, for which Western states held the Syrian government responsible (whilst Syria and Russia held the Syrian rebels of the Syrian civil war responsible) and agreed to the prompt destruction of its chemical weapons. The destruction of Syria's chemical weapons that the Assad government had decalared was completed by August 2014, yet further disclosures, incomplete documentation, and allegations of withholding part of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile since mean that serious concerns regarding chemical weapons and related sites in Syria remain.

Prior to entry into force on 14 October 2013 of Syria's instrument accession, Syria was one of five states that had not signed and seven that had not ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention, which prohibits the development, production, stockpiling, transfer, and use of chemical weapons. However, in 1968, Syria acceded to the 1925 for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases. Syria had repeatedly pledged to ratify the CWC if its neighbouring countries, especially Israel, ratify the convention. In the aftermath of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Syria stated that it had no chemical weapons, but stated it possessed such weapons in 2012. The Syrian president had earlier alluded to a chemical weapon capability in public statements, in 1990 and 1997.

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