Syrian politicians say country can survive without chemical weapons
- 11 years ago
Members of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons are starting the process of verifying and eliminating Syria's chemical weapons.
In Damascus, the group of experts was seen leaving their hotel in a convoy of United Nations vehicles.
This group arrived in the country on Tuesday in what has become a familiar scene for Syrians: another international organization coming to investigate the use of chemical weapons.
This mission is part of a U.S-Russian deal to remove and destroy around 1,000 tons of sarin, mustard and other nerve agents believed to be held in Syria.
Even without those weapons, Syrian parliamentarians say they believe the country has other means of defending itself.
(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN PARLIAMENTARIAN, KHALED AL-ABBOUD, SAYING:
"In the last few years, I think that a new legal weapon has turned the scale and this weapon is not the chemical one that was used in a specific historic period. But now there is a new weapo
In Damascus, the group of experts was seen leaving their hotel in a convoy of United Nations vehicles.
This group arrived in the country on Tuesday in what has become a familiar scene for Syrians: another international organization coming to investigate the use of chemical weapons.
This mission is part of a U.S-Russian deal to remove and destroy around 1,000 tons of sarin, mustard and other nerve agents believed to be held in Syria.
Even without those weapons, Syrian parliamentarians say they believe the country has other means of defending itself.
(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN PARLIAMENTARIAN, KHALED AL-ABBOUD, SAYING:
"In the last few years, I think that a new legal weapon has turned the scale and this weapon is not the chemical one that was used in a specific historic period. But now there is a new weapo