Overview
- In late May the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons reported dozens of previously undeclared items in Syria, including aerial bombs, rockets, precursor materials and thousands of pages of program documentation.
- OPCW teams, which have visited more than 20 sites since March 2025, say information points to over 100 additional locations that may be linked to the former Assad-era program.
- The munitions match types used in past attacks such as Ghouta (2013), Ltamenah (2017) and Khan Shaykhun (2017), making on-site forensics key to linking material evidence to alleged perpetrators.
- The UK-led Breath of Freedom Task Force and other partners are working with the OPCW on secure removal, destruction and legal planning, and recent arrests connected to the Ghouta attack were cited as steps toward accountability.
- A fragile security transition, U.S. base withdrawals and reported prison and camp disorder increase the risk that materials or knowledge could be sold or seized by groups like ISIS, so sustained international security and chain-of-custody guarantees are needed to prevent proliferation.