UN Says Syria Has Begun to Destroy Previous Regime’s Chemical Weapons

Syria has begun the process of destroying materials from the previous Assad regime’s chemical weapons program, the first such dismantling of Syrian chemical munitions in more than a decade.

High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu told members of the U.N. Security Council during a briefing on Sept. 3 that for the first time since 2014, the Organization for the ⁠Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has verified the destruction of chemical weapons in Syria.

Nakamitsu said that she and her office, the Office for Disarmament Affairs, have remained in contact with the OPCW and with the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Ibrahim Olabi.

She said that since the council’s last meeting on this matter, “the OPCW and the Syrian Arab Republic have continued to engage on how to eliminate any remnants of the chemical weapons program developed by the previous government,” and that “significant progress” has been made.

Nakamitsu said that in May, the OPCW discovered previously undeclared chemical weapons, prompting Syria to submit amendments to its chemical weapons declaration the following month.

“The Syrian Arab Republic declared one additional chemical weapons production facility, a newly discovered chemical used in the production of nerve agents, and empty chemical munitions,” she told the U.N. Security Council.

“It also declared two chemical weapons storage facilities where the newly discovered materials were being stored.”

She said that Damascus has the agreements and approvals in place to begin destruction activities, under verification by the OPCW, and that these activities have started. She confirmed that, so far, 42 aerial bombs have been destroyed.

‘Historic Moment’

Olabi called the commencement of the process to destroy these weapons a “historic moment.”

“This is the very first destruction process since we have been liberated from the previous regime,” Olabi told the U.N. Security Council.

“Every site that is secured, every ammunition that is identified, does not merely remove a danger to Syria, but the entire world.”

The Syrian diplomat said that his country was preparing to hold its first court hearing on the use of these weapons.

Earlier this year, Syrian authorities arrested and detained 18 people for their alleged involvement in the previous regime’s chemical ​weapons program, including high-level military, political, and technical officials.

Mohamad Katoub, Syria’s permanent representative to the OPCW, told Reuters on May 26 that the transitional leadership had located remnants of the former government’s clandestine chemical weapons program. He said they found raw materials and munitions similar to those used to carry out deadly gas attacks during the Syrian civil war.

“Despite ⁠the secrecy, the danger, and the immense security challenges … today we delivered for the Syrian people and for the world,” Katoub said at the time.

“It is the first time such munitions could be recovered before they were ​used in crimes against the Syrian people.”

Terrorism Designation Lifted

In 2024, insurgents led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham—which was headed by former jihadi and Syria’s current interim President Ahmed ​al-Sharaa—seized Damascus and declared the end of more than 50 years of the Assad regime and Ba’athist rule in Syria.

The ousting followed 13 years of civil war that was triggered by the 2011 Arab Spring and a series of pro-democracy protests and uprisings.

Then-leader Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia, where he received political asylum.

Al-Sharaa has met with U.S. President Donald Trump, who welcomed him to the White House on Nov. 10, 2025, days after the United States and the U.N. lifted terrorism-related sanctions on the Syrian leader.

On July 8, 2026, the Trump administration said that it would remove Syria from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the move at the time as a “historic step,” since Syria had remained on that list since 1979—the longest period of any country to have that designation. Iran was not added until 1984.

The designation was removed on Aug. 24.

“These actions were all taken in recognition of the positive actions taken and further commitments by the Syrian government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa to fully distance Syria from acts of international terrorism,” Rubio said in a statement.

Reuters contributed to this report.