20 November 2013

The US considers destroying Syrian chemicals at Sea

The New York Times reports that the United States is considering plans to place the chemical components of the weapons on a barge at sea where they would be dissolved or incinerated.

Officials from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which is operating in Syria to locate and identify the weapons, would monitor the destruction, which would be carried out following safety standards set by legislation in the United States and the European Union. By destroying the weapons in international waters, the effort would not require approval by any particular country.

Earlier, Albania and Norway turned down an appeal by the United States to destroy the weapons on its territory. A US official said that the United States has not given up on finding a country that would accept the 1,000 tons of precursors and other chemicals in Syria’s arsenal.

Source: The New York Times | Options Narrowed, U.S. Is Said to Weigh Destroying Syrian Chemicals at Sea

27 October 2013

Norway declines request to destroy Syrian chemical weapons

On Friday 25 October, Norway declined a request to help destroy Syria’s chemical arsenal. The reasons for the refusal of Norway were constraints of the regulatory framework as well as the time pressure for the destruction of the weapons. The United States keeps trying to identify states that can assist in the destruction of the chemical weapons.

Source: The New York Times | Norway Rejects U.S. Request to Help Destroy Syrian Chemical Weapons

23 October 2013

Syria’s chemical weapons possibly destroyed on Norwegian soil

According to the Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, the United Nations has asked Norway to eliminate Syrian chemical weapons. According to news reports this follows up on an earlier request made by Russia and the United States.

The Jerusalem Post had a story on this 20 days ago, see here.

Source: The Washington Post | Norway mulls taking and destroying the bulk of Syria’s chemical arsenal