MOSCOW, December 18 (RIA Novosti) – Russia will send armored trucks to Syria as part of an international effort to remove chemical weapons from the war-torn country for destruction at sea, the international watchdog overseeing the operation said in a statement posted online Wednesday.
Russia is also ready to provide security for cargo operations at the port of Latakia and in Syrian territorial waters while weapons stocks are transferred to a US navy ship that will “neutralize” the chemicals, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ director general, Ahmet Uzumcu, said in the statement.
Uzumcu said Russia would provide water tanks and other logistical supplies as well as the large-capacity trucks. It was also willing to consider further financial or material support for the multinational operation to remove the most deadly of Syria’s chemical weapons within one month, the OPCW said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that Moscow was ready to provide a naval escort for ships carrying chemical weapons being removed from Syria.
Uzumcu said that Denmark and Norway would provide ships and military escorts for transporting the Syrian chemicals at sea and for carrying chemicals to be disposed of at commercial facilities.
Finland had also offered chemical weapon “emergency-response” capabilities, and Italy was providing access to a port for trans-loading the priority chemicals from Danish and Norwegian vessels to the US ship.
The United States will also provide nearly 3,000 container drums to store the chemicals and GPS trackers to monitor their movement, as well as loading, transportation and decontamination equipment.
China is also joining the operation by providing surveillance cameras and 10 ambulances.
Uzumcu made an appeal for the international community to urgently provide more financial support for the program. The existing special fund stood at 9.8 million euros ($13.5 million), with an additional 750,000 euros pledged by Finland and South Korea, while Japan had promised to contribute nearly $15 million to be shared between the OPCW and the United Nations.
The operation to destroy Syria’s arsenal of more than 1,000 metric tons of weapons-grade chemicals is due to take place in two stages. The most dangerous weapons have to be removed from Syria by the end of December and destroyed at sea by April, with the rest slated for destruction by mid-2014.
Uzumcu told the OPCW’s executive council Wednesday that “the possibility of some delays cannot be discounted” because of the continuing civil conflict in Syria between the regime of President Bashar Assad and rebel groups that include fundamentalist Islamist fighters linked to al-Qaida.
“At times, schedules have been disrupted by a combination of security concerns, clearance procedures in international transit and even inclement weather conditions,” he said.
“The continuing heavy fighting in Qalamoun and surrounding areas and the closure of a major arterial road between Damascus and Homs pose risks to the timely execution of the operation.”
But Uzumcu expressed confidence that the operation to remove chemical weapons from Syria would begin by the turn of the year and praised the international response to the operation.
“It would have been difficult a month ago to predict the availability of the assets that are now in place or will soon be,” he said.
The disarmament process was launched after an August 21 chemical weapons attack on a Damascus suburb that killed hundreds of civilians. The US and Western allies accused the Syrian government of responsibility for the attack, but Damascus blamed rebel groups.
