The global chemical weapons watchdog explicitly blamed Syria for toxic attacks for the first time Wednesday, saying President Bashar Assad's air force used the nerve gas sarin and chlorine three times in 2017. The findings came in the first report from a new investigative team ...
Chemical warfare watchdog defends Syria report amid coverup allegations
The head of the world's chemical weapons watchdog on Monday defended a report into an alleged chlorine attack in Syria, despite a whistleblower's allegations of a coverup. Fernando Arias said he stood by the investigation by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons into ...
Syria bars access to chemical weapons investigators, says watchdog
Syrian officials have refused access to a newly created chemical weapons investigation team formed to identify culprits behind attacks with banned munitions, the organization's top official said in remarks published on Wednesday. Member countries of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) voted ...
Chemical arms team to assign blame for Syrian attacks despite Russia, Iran opposition
The global chemical weapons watchdog will in February begin to assign blame for attacks with banned munitions in Syria's war, using new powers approved by member states but opposed by Damascus and its key allies Russia and Iran. The agency was handed the new task ...
Japanese defense chief may visit the Netherlands and Italy next month
Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera is considering visiting the Netherlands and Italy in early September, a senior Defense Ministry official said Saturday. Onodera hopes to hold talks with his counterparts in the two countries to seek their support for efforts to realize North Korea's abandonment of ...
Chemical weapons watchdog finds 'chlorinated chemicals' in Douma, site of attack by Syrian regime
A preliminary report by the world's chemical weapons watchdog says "various chlorinated chemicals" were found at the site of an April attack in Douma, Syria, that killed dozens of civilians and prompted airstrikes by Britain, France and the United States. The Organisation for the Prohibition ...
The United States has credible information that Russia and Syria are trying to "sanitize" the site of a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria while denying access to the area by international inspectors, the State Department said on Thursday. Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the ...
Ichiro Akiyama, a former Ground Self-Defense Force officer, said Monday that Japanese have made important contributions to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which was named this year's winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Akiyama, the first director of the Inspectorate Division at ...
In choosing this year's Peace Prize recipient, the Nobel Committee hoped to accelerate global efforts to eliminate chemical weapons, which are relatively cheap and easy to produce.
As chemical weapons inspectors go about their work in Syria, Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin and Bashar Assad come out ahead. In fact everybody wins except the Syrians.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is awarded the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize, just weeks after a deadly gas attack in Syria sparked international condemnation.
