With No Country Yet Willing To Destroy Syria’s Chemical Weapons, Watchdog Turns To Open Ocean

In this Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013 file citizen journalism image provided by the United media office of Arbeen which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a member of a UN investigation t... In this Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013 file citizen journalism image provided by the United media office of Arbeen which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a member of a UN investigation team takes samples of sands near a part of a missile is likely to be one of the chemical rockets according to activists, in the Damascus countryside of Ain Terma, Syria. The intelligence linking the Syrian regime and President Bashar Assad to the alleged chemical weapons attack that killed at least 100 Syrians is no “slam dunk,” with questions remaining about who actually controls some of Syria's chemical weapons stores and doubts about whether Assad himself ordered the strike, U.S. intelligence officials say. MORE LESS
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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A spokesman for the global chemical weapons watchdog says destroying Syria’s stockpile of poison gas and nerve agents at sea is a possible alternative to finding a country willing to host the destruction.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons aims to destroy some 1,300 metric tons of Syrian toxic agents by mid-2014, but the plan was dealt a blow last week when Albania rejected a U.S. request to host destruction. Authorities in Belgium and Norway also have ruled those countries out as locations for the risky operation.

OPCW spokesman Christian Chartier said Wednesday the alternative of destruction at sea, on a boat or floating rig, is a “feasible” possibility.

Chartier told The Associated Press, “All options are on the table.” No further details have been released.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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