Israel's Attack On Damascus Hambut The Search For Chemical Weapons Of The Assad Regime

Syria/DOK PHOTO via X The White Helmets @SyriaCivivilDef

JAKARTA - Israeli airstrikes in Damascus hampered Syrian efforts to find and destroy chemical weapons stored during the ousted Bashar al-Assad administration.

The visit planned by inspectors from the Chemical Weapons Prohibition Organization (OPCW) has been postponed, government adviser Ibrahim Olabi said.

The OPCW will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday next week to discuss the situation and impact of the Israeli attack, said Olabi, a Syrian Foreign Ministry's legal adviser in charge of handling chemical weapons files.

Israel launched a devastating airstrike in Damascus on Wednesday, blowing up parts of the Defense Ministry building and hitting near the presidential palace, taking action it claims to protect the Druze minority in southern Syria.

The Syrian Ministry of Defense provides the institutional infrastructure needed to regulate and secure the visit of OPCW inspectors, Olabi said.

Since March, inspectors have visited previously invisible production and storage sites of chemical weapons to prepare for the task of destroying the remains of Assad's illegal supplies.

The Syrian interim government has pledged to clean itself up from chemical weapons.

The OPCW, an agreement-based agency in The Hague with 193 member countries, is tasked with implementing the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention.