Critics: logistics of Syria chemical weapons deal has U.S. helping regime put down rebels

Critics: logistics of Syria chemical weapons deal has U.S. helping regime put down rebels 

The Israel Project 06-Dec-13 

Foreign Policy Magazine's The Cable yesterday outlined an "array of technical, diplomatic, security, and financial challenges" faced by the U.S. and its allies as they struggle to meet a December 31 deadline, set by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), for putting beyond use Syria's most dangerous chemical weapons. The destruction of the Bashar al-Assad regime's chemical arsenal was the critical condition of a plan, hammered out largely between the U.S. and Russia, to avert a U.S. strike on regime assets in the aftermath of a chemical weapons attack against rebel-heavy suburbs of Damascus. Components of the arsenal are supposed to be packed, transported to Syria's port at Latakia, loaded onto non-U.S. cargo ships, moved to an allied port, transferred to the U.S. vessel Cape Ray, and then destroyed. The Cable notes that, beyond the challenges that will be faced once the weapons are out of Syria, the logistics for keeping the weapons secure as they're moved within the country is proving problematic. Fighting along the arteries to Latakia has occasionally been fierce, and Sigrid Kaag - the head of the United Nations/OPCW joint team overseeing the destruction of the weapons - recently revealed that at least one major route, via Homs, would not be sufficiently secure to use. The New York Times yesterday published more extensive details describing Kaag's logistical preparations, and quoted her emphasizing that "Latakia is the designated port for exit of the chemical agents... chosen by the government." Michael Weiss - a columnist for NOW Lebanon and Foreign Policy, and Editor-in-Chief of The Interpreter - noted that the arrangement will have the U.S, U.N., and Syrian regime all "coordinat[ing] to stop rebel activity along the route," the upshot being that the U.S. - having initially been maneuvered by Russia into the agreement - is now "outwardly enabling regime military gains in Syria."