Western states suspect Syria is hiding illegal chemical weapons

Western states have warned that Syria could beviolating a ban on chemical weapons, during a meeting of theexecutive council of the Organization for the Prohibition of ChemicalWeapons (OPCW) on Tuesday. Sabine Noelke, Canada's permanent representative to the OPCW, spokeof "growing evidence of deliberately false declarations by Syria,destruction of possible evidence, and the alarming likelihood thatSyria continues to possess Schedule 1 chemicals."Chemicals in this category include mustard gas and sarin gas.According to an OPCW report, traces of Schedule 1 substances werediscovered in a research centre in Syria.An assessment team also "noted the absence of remnants of destroyedproduction equipment and chemical munitions," despite the Syriangovernment having promised to keep such evidence for futureinspection, the report said. OPCW Director General Fernando Arias told the executive council thatSyria had refused entry to one OPCW inspector.Britain's OPCW envoy, Peter Wilson, slammed Syria's "completelyunacceptable" behaviour. "Tragically the threat of chemical weaponsuse in Syria remains very real," he added. Syria joined the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 2013 and isobliged under the agreement to destroy its entire chemical weaponsstockpile.However, there have been several attacks involving chemical weaponsin the war-torn country since then, for which both the regime andrebel forces have been blamed.Syria is not a member of the OPCW's executive council.