OPCW Restores Syria's Full Membership Rights

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has restored Syria’s full membership rights, following a decision issued during the organization’s meeting in The Hague, based on what it described as a “fundamental change in circumstances” and the measures taken by the new Syrian authorities to cooperate with the organization and fulfill their obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention. According to reports from the French news agency AFP, the organization praised the cooperation shown by the new Syrian government, including taking practical steps to help address the chemical weapons file and allowing OPCW inspectors to carry out verification and documentation activities at suspected sites within the country. The organization had suspended Syria’s voting rights in 2021 following investigation results that attributed the use of prohibited chemical agents to the former Syrian government, which Damascus then denied. The OPCW’s Director-General, Fernando Arias, stated that the new decision represents an additional step toward completing efforts to eliminate and verify any remaining chemical weapons, within the framework of ongoing cooperation between the organization and the current Syrian authorities.