Israel has reportedly carried out an air strike
on a Syrian military installation to stop a shipment to Hezbollah, as
inspectors said Syria’s entire declared stock of chemical weapons has been
placed under seal.
Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television said on
Thursday that Israel had hit a Syrian air base in Latakia province, targeting a
shipment of surface-to-surface missiles destined for the Lebanese Shiite
movement.
A US official confirmed to AFP that “there was an
Israeli strike” but gave no details on the location or the target, while
Israeli officials refused to comment.
“Historically, targets have been missiles
transferred to Hezbollah,” allied with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, the
official said.
Al Arabiya quoted the head of the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights as saying explosions took place Wednesday near
Latakia at an air defence base.
In May, Israel carried out two air strikes inside
Syria, and a senior Israeli official told AFP both targets were Iranian weapons
destined for Hezbollah.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons reported on Thursday that all of Syria’s chemical weapons were under
“tamper proof” seals.
“All stocks of chemical weapons and agents have
been placed under seals that are impossible to break,” OPCW spokesman Christian
Chartier said on Thursday.
“These are 1,000 tonnes of chemical agents (which
can be used to make weapons) and 290 tonnes of chemical weapons,” Chartier told
AFP in The Hague.
The OPCW also said Syria’s chemical arms
production equipment had been destroyed.
Inspectors had until Friday to visit all the
sites and destroy all production and filling equipment in accordance with a
timeline laid down by the OPCW and a UN Security Council resolution.
The resolution, stating that the arsenal must be
destroyed by mid-2014, followed a US-Russian deal to avert military strikes on
Syria after chemical weapons attacks near Damascus in August.
The West blamed those attacks, which killed
hundreds, on Al Assad’s regime, which denied all responsibility and, in turn,
blamed rebels.
The United States is “increasingly confident” the
chemical arsenal will be eliminated by June 30, Thomas Countryman, a senior
State Department official in charge of non-proliferation issues said.
More than 120,000 people have been killed in the
31-month rebellion against the Al Assad regime triggered by his bloody
crackdown on Arab Spring-inspired democracy protests.
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