Syria committed to chemical weapon deal: Assad

Beirut: Syria is committed to the convention against chemical weapons it signed under a US-Russian deal and sees “no obstacles” to its implementation, President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview broadcast on Thursday.
Speaking to Venezuela’s Telesur, the Syrian leader insisted that his regime was complying with a deal under which Damascus will turn over its chemical weapons for destruction. “As the Syrian government, there are no serious obstacles,” he said. “But there is always the possibility that the terrorists will obstruct the work of the experts by preventing them from accessing certain places,” Assad added. The UN experts, who confirmed that sarin gas was used in the attack, arrived back in Damascus on Wednesday and are to resume investigations into other previous alleged attacks. Assad said his government would ensure the UN experts were also able to move around freely, insisting that his regime had invited them to come. “We are the ones who invited them to come to Syria in March when the terrorists used poison gas in a suburb of the city of Aleppo,” he said.