Syria's bloody conflict escalates with chemical weapons attack

Syria's chemical weapons stockpile may finally be a thing of the past. After months of careful diplomacy, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is reporting that the last hundred tons of Syria's stockpile has been loaded onto ships to be shipped to a European site for destruction. In a statement to the press, OPCW hailed the successful elimination of the stockpile as a watershed moment in international relations. "The mission to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons programme has been a major undertaking marked by an extraordinary international cooperation," said Ahmet Üzümcü, Director-General of the OPCW. "Never before has an entire arsenal of a category of weapons of mass destruction been removed from a country experiencing a state of internal armed conflict."

The Obama administration publicly blamed the Syrian government for delays in destroying its chemical arms stockpiles this week, calling upon President Bashar al-Assad's regime to take immediate action ahead of a second major deadline. In a statement to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), US ambassador Robert Mikulak accused Syria of delaying the process for unwarranted reasons, suggesting that the government is stalling as a ploy to gain leverage in negotiations.

An agreement reached last year requires Syria to remove and destroy its entire chemical arsenal by June 30th. The country was supposed to destroy its most dangerous Priority One chemicals by December 31st, and remove its entire stockpile from the country by February 5th. According to the US, however, just 4 percent of Priority One chemicals have been destroyed so far, and the country is likely to miss the February deadline, as well. The OPCW is overseeing the process, which was enacted under an agreement that narrowly avoided a US military strike against the Assad regime.

Syria has been accused of using poison gas to attack a rebel-held town, despite agreeing to dismantle its chemical weapons and production facilities earlier this year, reports Reuters. Activists opposing the Assad regime tell Reuters that they found victims in the town Nabak who had swollen limbs and were foaming at the mouth. They said that two shells filled with gas were dropped there on Thursday, and that seven were dead at the scene. Another group, the Syrian Revolution Coordinators Union, reported nine casualties and also accused the regime of using poison gas. US officials reportedly hadn't confirmed the attacks as of last night.

Syria has been under intense pressure to end its chemical weapons program. The United States called chemical weapons a "red line" and began preparing for a missile strike on Syria after a major attack in August reportedly left hundreds dead. Since then, Syria has been beginning to cooperate with the United Nations — it was believed to have destroyed all of its chemical weapon production facilities, and a mid-2014 date was eyed for the destruction of its remaining arsenal. Should accusations of a new attack turn out to be accurate, we could once again begin seeing the US consider placing significant pressure on Syria to end the attacks.

Syria has destroyed all of its declared chemical weapons production systems, according to a document from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) obtained by Reuters. The Syrian government had until November 1st to dismantle all production, mixing, and filling equipment, as stipulated under a disarmament timetable forged by American and Russian leaders. After having inspected 21 out of the country's 23 declared production sites, the OPCW says it is now confident that the regime has met its deadline.

"The OPCW is satisfied it has verified, and seen destroyed, all declared critical production/mixing/filling equipment from all 23 sites," the OPCW document reads. The organization is expected to formally announce its findings later Thursday.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the decision at a press conference held in Oslo Friday morning, saying it chose the OPCW "for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons." The organization will receive a monetary prize of $1.25 million, to be awarded at a ceremony in December.

Based in the Hague, Netherlands, the OPCW was founded in 1997 to uphold the international Chemical Weapons Convention. This year, the organization deployed a team of experts to Syria, following a series of attacks widely believed to have been launched by the army of President Bashar al-Assad. An August 21st attack outside Damascus nearly prompted US President Barack Obama to launch a military strike against Assad, but the conflict was avoided after Syria agreed to sign the Chemical Weapons Convention and open its arsenal for inspection. Inspectors began overseeing the destruction of Assad's stockpiles last week.

Syrian forces began destroying President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapon delivery systems Sunday, according to a member of an international team overseeing the process. Speaking to Reuters, the official said a joint team of experts from the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) began overseeing the process yesterday, after arriving in the war-torn country on Tuesday. Syrian forces have started "destroying munitions such as missile warheads and aerial bombs and disabling mobile and static mixing and filling units," the official added.

As expected, United Nations inspectors have reported that chemical weapons were used in an August 21st attack near Damascus, Syria. According to a report released today, the inspectors found "clear and convincing" evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve gas sarin were used in the attacks, and that chemical weapons had been used "against civilians, including children, on a relatively large scale."

The inspectors visited the region in last August, conducting interviews with survivors, assessing their symptoms, and collecting various medical and environmental samples as part of the investigation. The New York Times reports that UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon addressed the findings in a news conference earlier today. "The report makes for chilling reading," he said. "The findings are beyond doubt and beyond the pale. This is a war crime."

After three long days of discussions in Geneva, the United States and Russia agreed to a draft framework that calls for the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons facilities and munitions by the first half of 2014. Both nations "expect Syria to submit, within a week, a comprehensive listing, including names, types, and quantities of its chemical weapons agents," as well as details — including the locations of — the government's production, storage, and research facilities.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who has been in negotiations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to agree to the proposal, said at a press conference on Saturday: "If we can make this framework a success, we save lives in the region and lay the groundwork for more cooperation [between the US and Russia]," reports The Wall Street Journal. "There is no military solution in Syria. It has to happen at the negotiating table."

The report is the result of painstaking work by a team of UN affiliated experts, who collected evidence and eye witness accounts along with samples of air, soil, blood and urine from the scene of the attack near Damascus. The report was intended to focus on the means and method of the attack, rather than identifying the perpetrators, but experts had previously told The New York Times that the evidence would leave little doubt that President Assad's forces were behind the attack.

President Obama's plan to launch a military strike against Syria was unexpectedly put on hold this week, after Russia announced a proposal to place Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons under international control. The Assad regime says it is willing to cooperate with Moscow's plan, offering to open up its stockpiles for inspection and eventual destruction, and agreeing to sign an international ban on chemical weapons.

At first glance, the proposal may seem like a blessing for Obama, who has been urging Congress to authorize a limited strike on Assad's chemical weapons facilities, insisting that the operation would not involve American "boots on the ground." The White House had been struggling to muster support for a strike among a war-weary public, and Russia's intervention appears to at least open the door for a diplomatic solution. But experts say that disarmament won’t be easy, and may require US involvement — and boots — for years to come.

Russian President Vladimir Putin penned an op-ed in the New York Times this week, calling for the US to abandon earlier calls for a military strike against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. In the piece, published Wednesday, Putin argued that a strike against Syria would "increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism," while threatening to destabilize international law. He also criticized President Barack Obama's televised address to the nation, taking issue with his appeal to "American exceptionalism."

"I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is 'what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional,'" Putin wrote. "It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation."

President Barack Obama said Tuesday night that he has asked Congress to postpone a vote on his proposal for a targeted military strike against Syria. The President said he's doing so in an attempt to take a purely diplomatic route with the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which the US says used chemical weapons to kill more than 1,000 Syrian men, women, and children on August 21st. Additionally, Obama said he would continue to discuss the situation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and send Secretary of State John Kerry to speak with his Russian counterpart, in a bid to put pressure on Assad to give up control of his chemical weapons stockpile.

"Over the last few days we've seen some encouraging signs in part because of the credible threat of US military action as well as constructive talks that I had with President Putin," Obama said. "The Russian government has indicated a willingness to join with the international community in pushing Assad to give up his chemical weapons. The Assad regime has now admitted that it has these weapons and even said they'd join the chemical weapons convention, which prohibits their use." He added that he has spoken to France and the UK about the situation, and said that "we will work together in consultation with Russia and China to put forward a resolution at the UN Security Council requiring Assad to give up his chemical weapons and to ultimately destroy them under international control."

Syria says it is prepared to place its arsenal of chemical weapons under international control and sign a global treaty that would prohibit their use, as it looks to avoid a military conflict with the United States. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem confirmed the decision in a statement to Russian news agency Interfax Tuesday.

The move comes after Syria publicly agreed to a Russian proposal to cede control of its chemical weapons, make them available for inspection, and ultimately destroy them. President Barack Obama earlier tentatively embraced Russia's proposal, calling it a potential "breakthrough" in televised interviews, but the State Department has expressed skepticism about Syria's commitment to an international ban.

The Syrian crisis took a surprising twist Monday, after Russia proposed putting President Bashar al-Assad's supply of chemical weapons under international control. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov put forth the proposal yesterday, saying that Syria could avoid a threatened US military strike by ceding control of its stockpiles and agreeing to eventually destroy its cache of chemical weapons.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad this week issued a stern warning to President Barack Obama, telling CBS News that the US should expect retaliation if the White House moves forward with plans to launch a military strike against Damascus. In an interview with CBS This Morning co-host Charlie Rose, Assad denied that his regime used chemical weapons in an August 21st attack outside Damascus, as the White House has alleged. The embattled president added that military intervention could have serious repercussions for the US, though he declined to say whether retaliation would come directly from Syria or its various allies.

"You should expect everything. Not necessarily from the government," Assad said in the interview, his first with an American television network in nearly two years.

As the US moves closer to a military strike against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the pro-Assad Syrian Electronic Army has made one of its most obvious political statements yet. Earlier today, the group successfully defaced the Marines.com recruiting website, posting a plea for service members to refuse any orders to attack Syrian government forces. "Obama is a traitor who wants to put your lives in danger to rescue al-Qaeda insurgents," the page read earlier today, as shown in a screenshot from The Wall Street Journal. "The Syrian army should be your ally not your enemy. Refuse your orders and concentrate on the real reason every soldier joins their military, to defend their homeland."

The SEA's references to al-Qaeda are in line with a common refrain from al-Assad, who describes opponents of his government as terrorists. Along with the text, the page showed images of people in US military uniforms, their faces obscured by signs like "I didn't join the Marine Corps to fight for al-Qaeda in a Syrian civil war." Fighting in that war, however, seems more likely every day. Since an apparent nerve gas attack left nearly 1,500 dead in mid-August, blame has been largely placed on the Assad regime, though UN weapons inspectors have yet to make an official pronouncement.

President Obama gave a hastily-scheduled address on Saturday to announce his intentions to launch a "limited" US military strike on Syria. "Now after careful deliberation, I have decided the US should take military action against Syrian regime targets," Obama said. "This would not be an open-ended intervention, we would not put boots on the ground. Instead our action would be designed to be limited in duration and scope," adding that he would seek Congressional authorization for such a strike before launching it, despite the fact that he doesn't technically need it to move forward. Obama didn't specify whether the strike would involve missiles or other weapons.

Obama said that the Syrian regime had committed the "worst chemical weapons attack of the 21st century" in August. "Our security and our values demand we cannot turn away from the massacre of thousands of innocent civilians with chemical weapons," Obama explained, adding: "I'm ready to act in the face of this outrage. Today I'm asking Congress to send a message to the world that we are ready to move forward as one nation." The US Congress is out of session for the Labor Day holiday through September 6th, but Obama said that he had spoken with Congressional leaders who were ready to hold a vote on a military strike as soon as they return. Reuters reported that one Congressional leader said a measure would be considered the week of September 9th.

At least 1,429 Syrians were killed in a chemical attack allegedly carried out by the regime of Bashar al-Assad, according to new US figures. 426 children are included in that tally. Secretary of State John Kerry delivered the grim news in a press conference today, saying that United States intelligence agencies had "high confidence" that Assad was responsible for the ruthless offensive targeted at opposition forces and civilians. Kerry emphasized that officials had "reviewed and re-reviewed" thousands of pieces of evidence in reaching the conclusion, mindful of the mistakes made by the intelligence community leading up to the Iraq war. "We will not repeat that moment," Kerry promised. "It matters here if nothing is done," he said. "It matters if the world speaks out in condemnation, and nothing happens."

Western military forces could be planning a strike against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the coming days, following allegations that the Assad regime used chemical weapons in an attack. Reuters reports that members of the "friends of Syria" alliance, which includes the US, informed the Syrian National Coalition opposition group of their plans at a meeting in Istanbul. "The opposition was told in clear terms that action to deter further use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime could come as early as in the next few days," a source said, "and that they should still prepare for peace talks at Geneva."

Syria is known to have a stockpile of mustard gas and other chemical weapons, but Assad's regime and its opposition have long blamed each other for attacks. The UN said in June that small-scale chemical attacks had likely been made, but it didn't solidly point the finger at either party. A recent attack, however, left hundreds dead with symptoms that suggested nerve gas was involved, and Assad's forces were blamed. Since then, international tensions have stretched to the breaking point. A UN chemical weapons inspection team was shot at by snipers as it attempted to investigate the attack, and the Obama administration has begun preparing for a potential missile strike on Syria despite its hesitance to intervene.

US Secretary of State John Kerry just concluded a press conference on the situation in Syria in which he delivered the toughest statements yet from the American government, saying that chemical weapons were used in the country without a doubt; that the Syrian government was destroying evidence; and that the US would hold those responsible accountable. "What we saw in Syria last week should shock the conscience of the world," Kerry said. "It defies any code of morality. Let me be clear: the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders by chemical weapons is a moral obscenity. By any standard, it is inexcusable." Read the full statement here on the State Department's website.

"As Ban Ki-Moon said last week, the UN investigation will not determine who used these chemical weapons, only whether such weapons were used, a judgement that is already clear to the world," Kerry said, adding that he spoke with the Syrian foreign minister and warned him:

The United Nations says that one of six vehicles carrying inspectors to the site of an alleged chemical weapons attack near Damascus, Syria has been hit by sniper fire this morning.  At this time, it's unclear if there were any injuries to the inspectors or who was responsible for the gunfire. The official UN spokesperson Twitter account posted an update describing the incident just before 7:00AM EST, about 2:00 local time, vowing to return to the area in a new vehicle. The UN spokesperson's office also issued the following statement on its website:

The 20-member UN inspection team has been in Syria since August 18th and were supposed to have been protected by a temporary ceasefire agreement between the Syrian government and rebel forces, according to the BBC. The Syrian government has been accused by opposition groups and many international observers of launching several poison gas attacks on rebels last week, killing hundreds, but has steadfastly denied the claims, instead blaming rebels for the use of nerve gas. The series of incidents culminating in this morning's sniper fire marks a new escalation of the now two-and-a-half-year long conflict between the authoritarian government and rebel forces, which has claimed over 100,000 lives, according to estimates.

The US is preparing for a possible missile strike against the Syrian government, following reports of an alleged chemical attack launched earlier this week. As CBS News reports, an additional warship equipped with ballistic missiles was dispatched to the region late Friday, joining the three other ships currently there.

The move comes just days after hundreds of people died in what Syrian rebel groups claim was a chemical attack launched by the forces of President Bashar al-Assad. On Saturday, humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders said approximately 3,600 patients were treated with "neurotoxic symptoms" at three hospitals outside Damascus early Wednesday, following a series of rocket strikes. According to the organization, 355 of these patients died, though allegations of chemical warfare have yet to be independently confirmed.

Opposition groups in Syria are accusing the government of launching a chemical attack that killed hundreds outside the capital of Damascus early Wednesday morning. Activists say rockets carrying nerve gas struck the suburbs of Douma, Jobar, Zamalka, Arbeen, and Ein Tarma, though the regime of President Bashar al-Assad has steadfastly denied their allegations. A nurse working at a medical center in the region tells Reuters that 213 people were killed on today's attack, including many women and children, while opposition groups put the death toll at 1,300.

The attack comes just one day after a team of experts from the United Nations arrived in Syria to investigate the possible use of chemical weapons in previous operations. The Obama administration has previously described the use of chemical weapons as a "red line" that would trigger US intervention.