Rajamony said that the aim of the
Chemical Weapons Convention is "to exclude completely the possibility of the use of
chemical weapons." He also reiterated that as the destruction of declared
chemical weapons stockpiles nears completion, OPCW must continue to implement its disarmament mandate by focusing on preventing the re-emergence of
chemical weapons as well as the risk of their proliferation.
* Prepares reports and briefings to the Organisation for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons on the status of
chemical weapon destruction.
The widespread use of poisoned gas by French and Germans during World War I led to the signing of a treaty in 1925 banning
chemical weapons. However, the treaty did nothing to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction during World War II.
An imperative for eradicating
chemical weapons is that they are indiscriminate upon diffusion, summarizes former FBI special agent Don Borelli.
Completion of the initial stage of destruction, overseen by a joint United Nations-Organisation for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons (OPCW) team in Syria, is a significant milestone in an ambitious timeline that aims to destroy all of Damascus's
chemical weapons by mid-2014.
Syria is not known to have successfully weaponized biological agents in an effective delivery system, but it possesses conventional and
chemical weapon systems that could be modified for biological agent delivery.
He also deemed the complete destruction of
chemical weapons in the world necessary for the realization of the Convention's objectives, calling for the immediate destruction of the US'
chemical weapons arsenal, as the only country still in possession of them.
Numerous military manuals also prohibit the use of
chemical weapons. The ban on the use of
chemical weapons contained in the
chemical weapons convention applies in all circumstances, including non-international armed conflicts.
The strikes targeted the Assad regime's
chemical weapons research center near Damascus, a
chemical weapons warehouse and a command center related to
chemical weapons located west of Homs.
Dunford acknowledged the strike was designed to degrade Syria's
chemical weapons capability without killing civilians or the many foreign fighters in Syria's multi-sided civil war.
In comments carried by Sputnik Russian news agency, Mikdad said it is 'shameful' that the US and France made trumped-up charges against Syria accusing it of using
chemical weapons.