The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) restored Syria's membership rights. The organisation announced that after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, the new administration in Damascus has taken concrete steps to destroy chemical weapons stockpiles and that there has been a significant change in circumstances.
The OPCW had suspended Syria's voting rights in 2021 after determining that the Syrian air force had used the nerve agent sarin and chlorine gas against its own people. Since Assad's overthrow in 2024, however, the new authorities have pledged to cooperate with the OPCW to destroy the chemical weapons that the former president was repeatedly accused of using during the 13-year civil war.
In its statement, the organisation announced that the new Syrian government "has committed to fulfilling its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and has taken concrete steps to achieve this goal." OPCW Director-General Fernando Arias described the decision as "another milestone in efforts to achieve the complete and verified elimination of all chemical weapons remaining associated with the former Syrian government."
In 2013, under pressure from Russia and the US, and to avert the threat of airstrikes by Washington and its allies, Syria agreed to join the OPCW, declare its toxic stockpiles, and hand them over. This development came after the suspected chemical attack in Eastern Ghouta, which US intelligence said killed more than a thousand people and was attributed to the Syrian government. The Damascus government denied the accusations and blamed the rebels.
However, the Assad regime had not declared its entire chemical weapons programme and had tried to mislead inspectors. The post-Assad government, on the other hand, allowed OPCW inspectors to establish a permanent presence in the country, document suspected sites, and interview witnesses of past attacks. Arias visited Syria, and Syrian officials addressed the organisation at OPCW headquarters in The Hague.
The OPCW welcomed the "tangible progress" made and called on Damascus to continue its cooperation to "close the chemical weapons file inherited from the former regime."
