Syrian Crisis; Destruction of Syrian chemical weapons begins
International
experts began overseeing the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons arsenal on
Sunday. The process is being conducted amid a civil war in which 120,000 people
have been killed, fragmenting Syria along sectarian and ethnic lines and
drawing in Iran and Hezbollah on the side of Assad and his Alawite minority and
Arab Sunni powers on the side of the mostly Sunni Muslim rebels.
Assad's government and the rebels blame each other for the
attack in Sunni Muslim suburbs of the capital that killed hundreds of people.
The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution last week that demands the
eradication of Syria's chemical weapons and endorses a plan for a political
transition in Syria. The West is pushing, along with Russia, for the convening
of a conference to nudge Assad and his foes towards a settlement to the
conflict, the bloodiest of the "Arab Spring" revolts against
entrenched autocrats. But Assad told a German magazine he would not negotiate
with rebels until they laid down their arms, and said his most powerful ally
Russia supported his government more than ever.
The official, a member of a joint team from the Organization
for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague and the United
Nations, said Syrian forces used cutting torches and angle grinders to begin
"destroying munitions such as missile warheads and aerial bombs and
disabling mobile and static mixing and filling units".
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