Syria destroys 42 Assad-era chemical aerial bombs, UN says

Syria has begun destroying Assad-era chemical weapon materials, and an international watchdog has verified the irreversible destruction of 42 aerial bombs by Syrian authorities, a senior UN official said Thursday.

Izumi Nakamitsu, head of the UN disarmament office, told the Security Council that an Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons team verified the destruction last month. She said it was the first OPCW-verified destruction of chemical munitions from Syria since 2014.

Syria's UN envoy Ibrahim Olabi said the work marked “the very first destruction process” since the 2024 ouster of Bashar al-Assad. He said it was also the first such destruction of chemical materials on Syrian territory in more than a decade.

Olabi said Syria's new authorities aimed to protect Syrians by ensuring the weapons did not fall into the wrong hands. “Every site that is secured, every ammunition that is identified, does not merely remove a danger to Syria, but the entire world,” he said.

The OPCW stripped Syria of its voting rights in 2021 after finding that its air force had used sarin and chlorine gas. Since Assad's overthrow, the new authorities in Damascus have vowed to cooperate with the OPCW to destroy chemical weapons materials.

The United States urged the new Syrian authorities to continue cooperating with the OPCW. US envoy Tammy Bruce said eliminating the Assad regime's chemical weapons programme and promoting accountability were essential for international peace and security. China and Russia also commended Syria's progress in destroying chemical weapon materials.

Syria agreed in 2013 to join the OPCW and disclose and hand over its toxic stockpile under Russian and US pressure. That followed a suspected chemical attack in Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, that killed more than 1,000 people according to US intelligence and was attributed to the Syrian government, which denied involvement and blamed rebels.