Syria urges OPCW to give it special means to destroy chemical weapons production facilities

DAMASCUS, March 26. /TASS/. Damascus has called on the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to give it special means as soon as possible to destroy the chemical weapons production facilities, Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told Russian reporters on Thursday. "Syria has adopted the decision and is not giving it up to bring the matter on Syria's chemical weapons to a close," Mekdad said. "This historic decision that was taken thanks to the dialogue between Syria and Russia is unwavering," he stressed. "We are already completing the program /on eliminating chemical weapons/," the high-ranking diplomat said. "Until now, there was the need to destroy five tunnels and seven hangars/chemical weapons production facilities/. Now three hangars and one tunnel have been destroyed," he said. Mekdad stressed that for the demolition of the remaining hangars special means are needed which the Hague-headquartered chemical weapons watchdog, the OPCW, needs to provide. "The delay in the supplies comes not due to our fault, but due to the fault of the OPCW and certain sides that are part of the organization. We hope to destroy the tunnels in the shortest term but there is no specific date as Syria has not yet received the special means," he said. Damascus hopes that "the OPCW will speed up the process of supplying all what is needed to Syria to accomplish the tasks on destroying these facilities," Mekdad said. The deal on the elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons was reached in August 2013 in Geneva due to the Russian peace initiative. As part of the chemical demilitarization a total of 1,300 tonnes of toxic substances were taken out from Syria to be later destroyed. Some chemical weapons were neutralized on the country’s territory. Read more