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3w ago

OPCW Restores Syria's Voting Rights

The decision signals conditional international reintegration after Syrian cooperation let inspectors access undeclared sites, prompting approval of plans to destroy declared munitions at Al Qutayfah.

The United Nation vehicles carrying the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) inspectors is seen in Damascus, Syria April 18, 2018. REUTERS/ Ali Hashisho/File Photo
FILE - President of Syria Ahmed al-Sharaa walks towards 10 Downing Street to meet Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London, on March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)
Stock photo used for illustration
The chemical weapons watchdog said Syria had made progress in dismantling the stockpile of banned substances built up under former president Bashar al-Assad

Overview

  • The OPCW executive council reinstated Syria's voting rights on Thursday, reversing a 2021 suspension that followed findings of government use of chemical agents.
  • Inspectors have accessed previously undeclared sites and the OPCW approved a plan to destroy recently declared chemical munitions at a facility in Al Qutayfah north of Damascus.
  • The move follows the transitional Syrian leadership's pledge to locate and eliminate leftover Assad-era chemical stockpiles and to work with the OPCW's Technical Secretariat.
  • The OPCW said it will keep a permanent monitoring presence in Syria and take further decisions as needed to verify destruction and close outstanding questions about past attacks.
  • The reinstatement comes alongside broader diplomatic shifts, including U.S. removal of Syria from the state sponsors of terrorism list, and builds on earlier UN and OPCW findings that Syrian forces used sarin and chlorine during the civil war.