US State Department accuses Syria of 'dragging its feet' on chemical weapons

The US State Department has accused the Syrian regime of dragging its feet on destroying its chemical weapons stockpile and called upon President Bashar Al-Assad to hand over his country’s chemical weapons for destruction, as per the agreement brokered by Russia and the US.

State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said that Washington is very concerned over Syria’s intention to deliver its chemical weapons stockpile, as previously agreed, to the United Nations (UN) and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) joint delegation that is waiting in the Latakia port to ship the weapons outside of Syria in order to destroy them.

Psaki pointed out that 31 December had been set as the deadline for Syria to hand over all of its chemical weapons to the UN-OPCW delegation, and yet so far the Syrian regime has only handed over four per cent of its chemical weapons. The entire stockpile is supposed to be destroyed by 30 June.

The US official urged the Syrian regime to fulfil its promises regarding the UN Security Council Resolution 2118, saying that the regime has no excuses for not transferring the stockpile when it had in the past successfully moved these weapons from one place to another during clashes with opposition forces.