Chemical weapons watchdog reinstates Syria’s voting rights

The global chemical weapons watchdog on Thursday reinstated Syria’s voting rights at the body, rewarding Damascus for “constructive engagement” with the organisation and a willingness to destroy previously hidden stockpiles of toxic munitions.

The decision by the executive council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) underscores a new era of cooperation since the ouster of former President Bashar Assad in 2024 and comes five years after Syria’s voting rights were suspended as a punishment for the repeated use of toxic gas by Damascus.

It was the first time a member state had been hit with such a sanction.

The new openness has already produced results. In May, the OPCW announced that dozens of chemical bombs and rockets left over from Assad’s rule had been found in the country as previously undeclared weapons sites were opened to inspectors.

The OPCW’s executive council also approved plans for destroying some of that recently declared stockpile at a site in Al Qutayfah, 37 kilometres north of the capital, including materials used to make a nerve agent.