Brussels, 23 June 2014 140623/02

"The EU welcomes the announcement today by Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) that the remaining 8% of the Syrian chemicals have been removed from the country and loaded on board the Danish vessel Ark Futura. This removal, although overdue, is certainly good news. International pressure and the concerted efforts by OPCW and the Joint OPCW-UN Mission have finally yielded results. Our special appreciation goes to the OPCW Director-General Ambassador Uzumcu and his staff, as well as to the Special Coordinator Mrs Sigrid Kaag and the Joint Mission staff for their relentless efforts carried out in particularly difficult and dangerous circumstances. The importance of the elimination of the threat of the chemical weapons has already been underlined by granting OPCW the Nobel Peace Prize.

The EU has contributed with significant funds to the Syrian chemical weapons operation and wishes to express its appreciation to all the Member States that have contributed in kind or financially and in particular those that they have made available commercial vessels and their escort. Today's development marks the fulfillment of the main goal of this operation: the removal of the entire chemical weapons stockpile from Syria, so that the risk of having them used again is eliminated. But there is still work to be done. The removed chemicals should be destroyed according to the OPCW Executive Council Decisions, in full respect of the relevant international norms and procedures and in taking all necessary measure for the protection of the environment.

At the same time, we have to maintain pressure on Syria to ensure that the chemical weapons programme is completely and irreversibly dismantled, including the remaining production facilities. Last but not least the work of the Fact Finding Mission on the recent allegations of the use of chlorine should continue. The perpetrators of such horrific acts should be held accountable. The situation in Syria continues to be extremely critical from a security and humanitarian point of view. The EU urges all parties to help revive the political track as there can be no military solution to this conflict."

15/09/2013 à 11:10 Par Le Figaro.fr avec le Service Infographie du Figaro

Les Etats-Unis et la Russie ont conclu hier à Genève un accord sur le démantèlement de l'arsenal chimique syrien, avec la possibilité de mesures contraignantes, un pas salué par les capitales européennes mais rejeté par les rebelles de l'Armée syrienne libre.

Suite de l’article

WASHINGTON, September 10 (RIA Novosti)

The top diplomats from the United States, Russia and Syria will meet this week to discuss Syria’s chemical weapons, media reports cited unnamed US officials as saying Tuesday.

The meeting between US Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem is slated to be held in Geneva on Thursday, Reuters reported US officials as saying.

Reports of the planned meeting come as Washington awaits proposals from Russia on how Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal could be placed under international control and as US President Barack Obama’s administration pushes for domestic and international support for American military action against Syria.

Washington accuses Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government of carrying out a deadly Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack outside Damascus but has said it will examine Russian proposals aimed at preventing a US strike by ridding Syria of its chemical stockpiles.

Kerry said Tuesday that he expects proposals later in the day from Lavrov on how to secure Syria’s arsenal, adding that any deal must be backed by a binding UN Security Council resolution.

“He is sending those to us. They’ll be coming informally in the course of the day. We’ll have an opportunity to review them,” Kerry said during a Google+ hangout interview.

Kerry said any such plan would require a “full resolution from the Security Council in order to have confidence that this has the force that it has to have” and that it must include “consequences if games are played and somebody tries to undermine this.”

The Security Council had been set to hold closed consultations late Tuesday afternoon, The Associated Press cited a UN spokesman’s office as saying. But Australia’s ambassador to the UN, Gary Quinlan, said on his Twitter feed that the meeting had been canceled.

It was not immediately clear why the meeting was canceled, but CNN reported Tuesday that Russia had called it off.

In a Tuesday telephone call with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, Lavrov called “unacceptable” a Security Council resolution proposed by France that would declare the Syrian government responsible for “the possible use of chemical weapons,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Almost simultaneously with Kerry’s Google+ hangout interview, news emerged that Muallem had said Syria is ready to sign the Chemical Weapons Convention – an international ban on chemical weapons – and open its storage facilities to foreign governments.

“We intend to give up chemical weapons altogether,” Muallem said in an interview on Lebanon’s Al-Maydeen television network.

Asked about Muallem’s comments, Kerry welcomed them cautiously, saying he hopes the Assad government “would take advantage of this opportunity as a moment to try to make peace in Syria, genuinely reach out [and] live up to what they just said they would do with respect to the Chemical [Weapons] Convention.”

“I hope that perhaps in the next days they’d be willing to try to make that concrete,” Kerry said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Kerry appeared before the US House of Representatives’ Armed Services Committee where he cautioned that the Security Council should not be used as a stalling tactic to delay a possible US military strike.

“If the United Nations Security Council seeks to be the vehicle to make it happen, that cannot be allowed to simply become a debating society,” Kerry said. “We have to continue to show Syria, Russia and the world that we are not going to fall for stalling tactics.”

The international debate over the Syria standoff has shifted rapidly over the past 24 hours after Kerry proposed in an apparent offhand comment Monday that a US strike against Syrian targets could be averted if Damascus put “every single bit” of its chemical weapons under international control by week’s end.

Russia and Syria almost immediately welcomed the proposal, and Lavrov said earlier Tuesday that Moscow would soon put forward a “workable” plan for securing Syria’s chemical arsenal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that the plan would only be feasible if the United States and its allies pledge not to use force in Syria but expressed hope that it would “be a good step toward a peaceful resolution of the crisis.

Jun. 6, 2013 – Defense News (AFP)

WASHINGTON — The United States is evaluating information received from France which Paris has billed as proof that chemical weapons have been used in Syria, a US official said Thursday.

“I can confirm for you that we have received the information from the French,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters, after French officials said they had evidence that sarin gas had been used in Syria.

“We will take a close look at this, just like we take a close look at any information that’s provided, and we always recommend that any country provide information as well to the UN for their full investigation.”

But Psaki warned the US did not intend to “evaluate or litigate in public” whatever information it has received from Paris.

“We are still looking into finalizing the facts, looking into confirming the facts,” she said, denying that the close inspection of the French information was pouring doubt on its credibility.

“We’re doing our own due diligence on this,” Psaki stressed.

US President Barack Obama has said that any use of chemical weapons in the Syria conflict, now in its third year, would violate a US “red line.” But amid mounting reports such arms have been used, Washington has proceeded cautiously.

Amid mounting pressure for the US to act, Secretary of State John Kerry called on France on Wednesday to share its evidence of chemical weapons use.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius personally called Kerry on Monday and informed him that all the information at France’s disposal would be transmitted to Washington.

France has described the evidence of sarin use as a development that obliges the international community to act.

But memories remain strong in the United States about the false evidence that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had stockpiled chemical weapons, which was used to justify the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.