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Report: Bashar al-Assad Hiding Chemical, Biological Weapons

Bashar al-Assad / AP
February 3, 2014

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is reportedly hiding chemical and biological weapons in an Alawite enclave near the coastal city of Latakia, according to Israel Hayom.

The new information has created doubts in the West about whether Assad will meet his commitments to destroy all of Syria's chemical weapons. "Syria has given up only about 4 percent of its chemical weapons arsenal, will miss this week's deadline to send all toxic agents abroad for destruction, and probably will miss the June 30 deadline when the entire 1,300 tons of lethal chemical weapons were due to be destroyed," one of the sources reportedly told the [Sunday] Times. […]

Meanwhile, media reports say more than 200 Syrians were killed over the weekend. More than 60 people were killed in Aleppo in the past day, including 13 children, when explosives were dropped from helicopters overhead. Arab media reports say that January 2014 was the bloodiest month since the fighting in Syria began in March 2011, with more than 1,700 dead. A Syrian human rights organization claims more than 135,000 people have been killed in Syria since the start of the unrest.

Over the weekend, the second Geneva conference drew to a close with no solution to stop the violence in Syria. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu criticized the international community for not reaching an agreement regarding Syria. "The international system is failing like it failed in Bosnia for three years, like it failed in Rwanda for many years," he said at the Munich Security Conference. "One day, another U.N. secretary-general will go to Homs, will go to Yarmuk and will apologize."

Published under: Bashar al-Assad , Syria