Strikes on Syrian chemical weapons sites may risk contamination and the destruction of critical evidence, the head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) warned on Thursday, acknowledging that the organization has not yet confirmed whether such sites have been impacted, AFP reported.
Global concern has grown over Syria's chemical weapons stockpile following the dramatic overthrow of the regime of Bashar Al-Assad.
On Monday, Israel announced that it had targeted "remaining chemical weapons or long-range missiles and rockets in order that they will not fall in the hands of extremists" in Syria.
OPCW director-general Fernando Arias stated that the organization was "following closely" reports of these strikes on military facilities.
"We do not know yet whether these strikes have affected chemical weapons-related sites. Such airstrikes could create a risk of contamination," Arias said in a speech, as quoted by AFP.
"Another real risk would be the destruction of valuable evidence for investigations by different independent international bodies related to past use of chemical weapons," he added.
Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons in 2013 under a deal brokered by Moscow and Washington, which came two months after a chemical attack on an opposition-held Damascus suburb killed hundreds of victims. The UN concluded in 2014 that the attack involved the use of the nerve agent sarin.
In 2014, the OPCW launched a "fact-finding mission" to investigate the use of chemical weapons in Syria. To date, the team has published 21 reports on 74 alleged incidents of chemical weapons use, even after Syria agreed to destroy its arsenal of chemical weapons. Of these, investigators have determined that chemical weapons were used or likely used in 20 instances.
Last year, the OPCW produced a detailed report following a fact-finding mission that investigated a 2018 attack on the town of Douma, in which 43 people were killed. The report found that the Syrian air force dropped two cylinders of chlorine gas in 2018 on the town.
The Assad regime regularly denied having any connection to chemical weapons attacks in Syria and rejected past OPCW investigations into its chemical attacks as “fabricated”.
After assuming control in Syria, the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) expressed its "readiness to cooperate with the international community in everything related to monitoring weapons and sensitive areas."
The group also pledged to safeguard the remaining chemical weapons stockpiles and ensure they would not be used against civilians.
Arias acknowledged receiving "positive signals" from inside Syria but noted that there has been no official contact with the new authorities.
The change in government "may present an opportunity... to obtain clarifications on the full extent and scope of the Syrian chemical weapons program," Arias said, adding, "This is a task that we have not been able to complete with the former government over the past 11 years."
The White House said earlier this week that the US is focused on the issue of any remaining chemical weapons in Syria, with the administration taking “prudent measures” to address them.
A senior official described the matter as “a top-tier priority,” stressing the need to ensure that all chemical agents, “from chlorine to, you know, to far worse,” are “destroyed or cared for.”