Watchdog says dozens of Assad-era chemical weapons found in Syria in recent weeks

An aerial view of a mass grave where are buried those who were killed by the sarin struck during a 2013 chemical weapons attack that was blamed on then President Bashar Assad's forces, in Zamalka neighbourhood, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, file)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Dozens of previously undeclared chemical bombs and rockets left over from when then-President Bashar Assad ruled Syria have been found in the country in the past few weeks, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said in a report Wednesday.

The OPCW, the global chemical weapons watchdog based in The Hague, said in its May report that its inspectors were able to inspect “high-priority undeclared locations” since the start of month. “Dozens of undeclared chemical munitions such as aerial bombs and rockets … have been found at several of these undeclared locations,” the report said.

When Syria joined the OPCW in 2013, it claimed chemical weapons were present at 26 locations in the country, but the watchdog has said it has reason to believe the country has an additional 100 sites.

Following the overthrow of Assad in December 2024, the government under interim-President Ahmad al-Sharaa has pledged to destroy any remaining chemical weapons from the Assad regime.

While speaking to the OPCW in The Hague last year, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani asked for help from the international community in ridding his country of the illegal munitions.

Syria’s new rulers have committed to “destroy any remains of the chemical weapons program developed under the Assad regime, to put an end to this painful legacy, to bring justice to victims, and to ensure that the compliance with international law is a solid one,” he said.

Syria joined the OPCW in 2013 to ward off the threat of airstrikes in response to a chemical attack on the outskirts of Damascus. Assad’s government denied using chemical weapons, but the OPCW previously has said that it found evidence of their repeated use by Syria in the grinding civil war.

The organization also has found that the Islamic State group used chemical weapons during the war.

Molly Quell, The Associated Press