Syria fails to meet pledges on chemical weapons for the second time

Washington has ruled out the collapse of the American-Russian deal on the destruction of Syria’s chemical arsenal despite the Syrian regime failing to meet its promises to deliver the chemical weapons for the second time, Sky News Arabic reported on Thursday.

The Syrian government has justified the delay by citing the bad security circumstances. While Washington does not accept this justification, it did rule out the collapse of the deal.

In the meantime, Russia underplayed the repercussions of the delay and British Prime Minister David Cameron expressed his concerns.

Speaking before British MPs in London, Cameron stated: “Britain will continue to put pressure on all parties to make sure the chemicals weapon are delivered and destroyed.”

The international watchdog body overseeing the destruction of the chemicals acknowledged the security dangers and accepted the regime’s justification for the delay; however, the international community maintained that this does not exempt Damascus from meeting its pledges.

Deputy Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Miqdad noted that the Western countries have not committed to their pledges in this regard either. “They promised to secure [watchdog] convoys, but they have not,” he said. “They use this point to [verbally] attack Syria.”

According to the deal, the Syrian arsenal is to be destroyed by the middle of this year. The deal also stipulates that the most dangerous materials have to be destroyed before the end of February.

Continuous bombing

Meanwhile, the conflict across Syria continues.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported that at least 26 Syrians were killed when explosive barrels were dropped on residential neighbourhoods in Aleppo. It also said that a number of Syrians were reportedly killed in Dariya, near the Syrian capital.

According to Syrian activists, 64 Syrians were killed in other military operations in other areas, including those killed by tank shells in Duma and Eastern Ghouta.

Heavy strikes by regime warplanes were also reported in the Zour Al-Haisa neighbourhood in Hama, where witnesses saw high poles of smoke.