MOSCOW, August 21 (RIA Novosti) - On this day a year ago, almost 1,500 people were killed by chemical weapons in Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of the Syrian capital, Damascus. The US intelligence placed the blame on government forces. Damascus denied the allegation.
After August 21, the two-year-old Syrian conflict deteriorated still further, with Washington declaring the need for a military operation in Syria. Eventually, however, the unprecedented chemical attack on peaceful civilians led to a large-scale international cooperation project rather than missile strikes.
As of today, the most lethal chemical weapons from the Syrian arsenals have been destroyed, but this has failed to restore peace in the country and to compel the West to reestablish relations with the current Syrian government.
UNDER ATTACK
The UN Security Council considered a draft resolution clearing the way for attacks on Syria a few days after the sarin attack in Eastern Ghouta. But the use of force was blocked by Russia and China, which vetoed the resolution. The United States, however, was preparing to attack Syria on its own. In his address to the nation in early September, President Barack Obama said he had decided on a limited military operation that was in line with America’s national interests, an operation designed to prevent further proliferation of chemical weapons. He urged Congress to approve his plan for Syria. The congressional vote was scheduled for September 11.
But a day before the congressional ballot, Syria agreed to place its chemical stockpiles under international control, in keeping with a Moscow-proposed plan. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry held an emergency meeting, and managed to coordinate a procedure for the elimination of Syrian chemical weapons. Somewhat later, Damascus joined the Chemical Weapons Convention and handed over documents on its arsenals to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Under an OPCW plan and a corresponding UN Security Council resolution, Syria’s chemical disarmament should have been completed by June 2014. But the deadline had to be repeatedly pushed back because of the aggravated security situation in the country and militant threats to attack chemical storage facilities.
A JOINT EFFORT
The Syrian government was supposed to organize the transportation of chemicals from their storage facilities to the port of Latakia, but they needed help. Following Damascus’ request to the UN and the OPCW, Russia carried out large-scale deliveries of specialized equipment to the country, supplying, since December 2013, 50 KAMAZ trucks, 41 armored URAL trucks with additional protective sets, 30 APC-80, mine detector sets, as well as tents and field kitchens. To back the transportation operation, Russia also contributed $2 million to the UN Syria Fund.
In Latakia, the chemicals were loaded on a Danish container ship, the Ark Futura, and sent to the port of Gioia Tauro, Italy, where the USS Cape Ray was berthed. The Russian nuclear missile cruiser Pyotr Veliky and the Chinese frigate Yan Cheng were in charge of security at sea. The Pyotr Veliky even housed the coordinating center of this international task force.
On August 19, 2014, two days before the anniversary of the Damascus tragedy, the OPCW reported the complete elimination of the most dangerous chemical agents from the Damascus-declared arsenal. Deployed in the international waters of the Mediterranean, the US floating laboratory neutralized 600 metric tons of first-category chemicals, including mustard gas, sarin components and VX nerve gas. The residual reaction mass will be recycled by Finnish and German commercial businesses. The United States and the UK are destroying less dangerous chemical agents from the Syrian stockpiles. A portion of the chemical weapons was destroyed in Syria itself.
In all, Damascus declared more than 1,200 metric tons of chemical agents and precursors, most of which have been removed from the country. The Syrian government also reported 23 facilities capable of producing chemical weapons. Following expert checks, the OPCW Executive Council decided to pull down seven of these and bar access to another five.
WHO IS TO BLAME?
The perpetrators of the chemical attack against Syrian civilians are still unknown. In July, however, a joint UN and OPCW mission came to the conclusion that two cylinders found in the rebel-held zone almost a year ago contained sarin. In all, UN experts registered five cases of chemical agents being used in Syria from March to August 2013. They inspected the contaminated areas, questioned victims, and took biological samples that could reveal the presence of chemical agents.
Having escaped US missile strikes, Syria got another chance for peace. Washington, Moscow and a number of European capitals described the elimination of the Syrian chemical weapons arsenal as an important victory for the world community. According to German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the international community should display the same cohesion in resolving the conflict in the region.
Nevertheless, the G7 leaders denounced Syria’s first presidential elections in early June, which were won by Bashar al-Assad with over 85 percent of the vote. A number of Western countries, including the US and its closest ally, Britain, questioned the legitimacy of the ballot, described it as rigged, and declared that they had no intention of acknowledging the result. Moreover, Obama went on record as saying that he would expand support for the “moderate wing” of the Syrian opposition and asked Congress to allocate $500 million in aid.
In Syria, there is a continuing standoff between President al-Assad and the opposition. But a new and even graver threat is looming in war-ravaged Syria – a radical Sunni organization, the Islamic State (IS), has announced a plan to establish an “Islamic caliphate” in Iraqi and Syrian territories under its control, from where it has launched an attack on northern and western Iraq. According to earlier reports, IS terrorists have executed 700 members of a tribe in northeastern Syria within the last two weeks alone. In response to a request by Iraqi authorities, the US president approved air strikes on the positions of the IS militants in Iraq. It cannot be ruled out that Syria risks coming under attack once again.
