Syrian authorities have located remnants of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s clandestine chemical weapons program, including raw materials and munitions similar to those used to carry out deadly gas attacks during the country’s long-running civil war, a Syrian official told Reuters on Tuesday.
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Syrian authorities have also taken into custody 18 suspects for alleged involvement in al-Assad’s chemical weapons program, including high-level military, political and technical officials, Mohamad Katoub, Syria’s permanent representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, said in an interview.
The names of the suspects were not made public because the investigation was ongoing, he said, adding that several had served as major generals under the al-Assad regime. At least four were on European, UK or US sanctions lists, he said.
Syria, emerging from its 14-year civil war as an ally of the West, has vowed to work with the international community to rid itself of legacy weapons of mass destruction that pose a proliferation risk.
