Chemical weaponsOff-shore barges considered for destroying Syria’s chemical weapons
After failing to find a country willing to allow its territory to be used for disposing of Syria’s chemical weapons, the United States is exploring other options. Two options being seriously considered involve the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons off shore, rather than on land. Both proposals call for removing the chemical weapons from Syria and placing them on a large barge at sea, where they would be dissolved or incinerated.
After failing to find a country willing to allow its territory to be used for disposing of Syria’s chemical weapons, the United States is exploring two other options.
The list of countries rejecting the U.S. request is growing, and last week Albania, prompt by public protests, turned down an appeal by the United States to have a plant built in Albania in which chemical weapons and agents would be destroyed.. Norway also rejected a similar request, claiming it did not have the expertise or the facilities to destroy the weapons.
The New York Times reports that as a result, the United States is now seriously considering two other options, both involving the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons off shore, rather than on land. Both proposals call for removing the chemical weapons from Syria and placing them on a large barge at sea, where they would be dissolved or incinerated.
Both plans aim to destroy the precursor materials which, when combined, form the chemical munitions. Syria’s arsenal of operational chemical weapons would be destroyed separately.
“These are among the options we are considering, as we have unique capabilities that can be applied to the disposition” of Syrian chemical weapons, said Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council.
The destruction of the chemical weapons would be monitored by officials from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The group is currently operating in Syria to locate and identify the weapons at twenty-three declared weapons sites.
Under the first plan, five incinerators operating at 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit aboard a barge, would be used to destroy, in less than sixty days, all of Syria’s top precursor materials for chemical weapons. Officials said the byproducts would be harmless salts and other solids, according to theTimes. No American companies, ships, or personnel would be involved under the proposal; although the American military, using warships or surveillance planes, may assist in securing the area where the barge would be positioned.
The second plan for off-shore destruction would rely on the Pentagon’s Field Deployable Hydrolysis System, a highly sophisticated mobile system which neutralizes chemical agents through chemical reactions involving reagents which are mixed and heated, resulting in compounds that cannot be used for military use. The system would be used to neutralize the precursor chemicals which could be used by the Syrian government to make sarin and other forms of chemical weapons. The Pentagon reports that this option can be activated within ten days of activation.
Secretary of State John Kerry last week referred to the two options when he said that “We are not without other alternatives [if more countries refuse to accept Syrian chemical weapons],” he said. “In fact, we are actively pursuing two other alternatives which provide us a complete capacity to do the destruction and to meet the schedule.”
Kerry added: “The chemical weapons of one country are being corralled and moved and contained and placed under the supervision of an international organization which is committed to removing those weapons from Syria by the end of the year,” he said. “And I believe we are on target currently to achieve that.”
Destroying the weapons in international waters would not require approval by any particular country.
The Times reports that a senior U.S official familiar with the matter said the United States had not given up on finding a country that would accept the 1,000 tons of precursors and other chemicals in Syria’s arsenal, where the OPCW would monitor the chemicals’ destruction. The key to moving forward, however, is securing the chemicals and transport them safely out of Syria. “The key now is to get it onto a ship and get it out of the country,” the official said, noting that the chemical weapons would remain in Syria until a decision on how to destroy the arsenal is made.
Security for the shipments is being provided by the Syrian Army, which has raised concerns of vulnerability to attacks and seizure as the weapons are transported to Syrian ports. Syria has agreed to a 31 December 2013 deadline to destroy the most critical materials, and 5 February 2014 for most of the remaining arsenal.
