DAMASCUS, Syria – Chemical weapons inspectors have uncovered a significant cache of previously undeclared chemical weapons in Syria – including rockets of the same type used in the notorious 2013 Ghouta attack – in what the UN’s top disarmament official called a “momentous discovery” for international security.
Izumi Nakamitsu briefed the Security Council on Thursday on the findings by the UN-backed Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which deployed a team to Syria in May.
Inspectors found undeclared chemical munitions, related materials and extensive documentation.
“These findings are a momentous discovery, not just for Syria, but for international security and the global disarmament regime,” Nakamitsu told the Council.
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The discovery closes a long-standing gap in Syria’s accounting of its chemical weapons programme.
Since 2014, the OPCW had been unable to confirm that Syria’s declaration – submitted by the government of ousted president Bashar al-Assad – was accurate or complete.
The new government led by president Ahmed al-Sharaa has cooperated closely with inspectors, Nakamitsu said, facilitating access to sites and providing documentation that made the breakthrough possible.
She stressed that the newly discovered weapons must now be formally declared and destroyed under OPCW verification, and that further inspections of additional sites are needed.
A turning point – but complex work ahead
Syria’s representative to the UN described the find as a “decisive turning point” and a “major leap forward in delivering accountability”, noting that his government had facilitated 32 visits by OPCW inspectors and handed over more than 60,000 pages of documents.
“Syria suffered from chemical weapons for more than 12 years,” he said. “Today, it is committed to rid itself of its legacy.”
Several Council members praised the progress. The United Kingdom’s delegate said the new findings “provide further proof of Assad’s attempt to actively deceive the international community”, while the United States said Syria and the OPCW had shown “adaptability, flexibility and a shared commitment” to closing this chapter.
France, however, cautioned that the recent discovery is “only just beginning to reveal the extent of the programme hidden from the international community”, and Denmark warned that “the task ahead remains complex”, pointing to the challenging security environment and the number of potentially relevant sites across the country.
Russia strikes a sceptical note
Not all Council members were celebratory. Russia’s delegate questioned the speed with which the OPCW appeared to be assigning blame for the newly found substances, urging that findings be examined in a “depoliticised manner”. The OPCW had “long ago compromised itself”, he said.
Türkiye said the discoveries were a “stark reminder of the scale of repression and suffering inflicted on the Syrian people by the former regime” and called for Syria’s rights and privileges under the Chemical Weapons Convention – suspended in 2021 – to be reinstated.
