Rebels claim split in opposition
Several dozen rebel groups in southern Syria have broken with the main political opposition group in exile, a local commander said in a video posted online Wednesday, dealing a potential new setback to Western efforts to unify moderates battling President Bashar Assad’s regime. The Turkey-based Syrian National Coalition, the political arm of the Free Syrian Army rebel group, has long struggled to win respect and recognition from the fighters. It is widely seen as cut off from events on the ground and ineffective in funneling aid and weapons to the rebels. In the video, a rebel in military fatigues read a statement claiming political opposition leaders have failed to represent those trying to bring down Assad. With about two dozen fighters standing behind him, the rebel — identified as a captain in Anwar al-Sunna — named 66 other rebel groups that would reorganize, saying that “we are unifying the forces of the revolution militarily and politically.”
Associated Press
Inspectors have visited almost half of Syria’s declared chemical weapons sites as part of an ambitious plan to destroy the nation’s lethal stockpiles, an international watchdog agency said Wednesday.
A team of experts in Syria has now “concluded verification activities” at 11 sites, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said in a statement. All “were well within government-held territory,” said Michael Luhan, a spokesman for the Hague-based agency overseeing the effort.
The joint United Nations-OPCW team is undertaking the unprecedented task of trying to eliminate a nation’s chemical arsenal amid a war.
Syrian officials have said publicly that as many as seven chemical sites may be in areas where anti-government rebels are active.
In one case, inspectors were unable to visit a weapons site because of security issues, Luhan said.
“We weren’t able to get sufficient guarantees to send our team in,” he said. “The battle lines shift quite frequently. … It’s a fluid situation.”
The OPCW’s director general, Ahmet Uzumcu, has said that temporary cease-fires may be required to inspect some of the more than 20 sites identified by Syrian officials as chemical weapons facilities. Such inspections would require guarantees of safety from both government and opposition groups.
Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Dutch Mideast expert Sigrid Kaag on Wednesday to lead the team charged with destroying Syria’s chemical weapons and announced stepped up efforts to hold a peace conference on Syria in mid-November.
The U.N. chief appeared with Kaag shortly after U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky announced her appointment and the official establishment of the joint mission of the U.N. and the OPCW that she will lead.
Its goal is to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile, all chemical precursors, and the equipment to produce the deadly weapons by mid-2014.
“We have no illusions on the challenges ahead,” the secretary-general said. “The situation in Syria remains dangerous and unpredictable. The cooperation of all parties in Syria is required.”
Inspectors face a number of tight deadlines, including a Nov. 1 target for rendering Syria’s chemical weapons facilities inoperable.
The accelerated schedule arose from a U.S.-Russian accord that averted U.S. airstrikes in retaliation for a series of poison gas attacks on rebel-held areas outside Damascus, the Syrian capital, on Aug. 21.
The Syrian government denied any role in the attacks and blamed opposition forces. But Syria agreed to the elimination of its chemical arsenal and joined a global treaty outlawing the use, production and stockpiling of such weapons.
Inspectors in Syria have already destroyed some equipment and weaponry, including missile warheads, bombs and mixing and filling machinery, the OPCW has said. Basic tools such as sledgehammers, chain saws and bulldozers may be used in the initial phase of work, experts say.
The more complex destruction of Syria’s chemical stockpiles, estimated at 1,000 tons, is to come later.
The Syrian government submitted an initial disclosure of its chemical weapons facilities. But Damascus has until Oct. 27 to present a “more detailed and structured” declaration, said Luhan. Syria’s cooperation has thus far been “excellent,” he said.
The United Nations-OPCW team in Syria is made up of about 60 experts and is expected to expand to 100, officials say.
Last week, the OPCW was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its work in helping to rid the globe of chemical weapons.
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