The government of Syria has presented an outline of its chemical weapons programme to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, AP reported on Friday. The organisation’s spokesman, Michael Luhan, said that the regime’s declaration about its programme is “being reviewed by our verification division.” Full details of the content of the declaration will not be released, he added.
The move by the Assad regime follows an agreement reached between the US and Russia last week to postpone a military strike on Syria in the wake of the regime’s use of chemical weapons against residents of a Damascus suburb on August 21. The agreement is intended to place Syria’s chemical weapons under international control ahead of their full removal or destruction by mid-2014.
The organisation’s plan of action will be backed up by a UN Security Council resolution; negotiations are underway on the resolution’s text.