U.S. Says Syria Refuses to Destroy Chemical Plants / TODAY’S MESOP SYRIA INSIGHT (II)
Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, accused the Syrian government of refusing to seriously negotiate the destruction of facilities used to make chemical weapons, a charge that came after Syria delivered about a third of its chemical stockpile for destruction (Reuters). A United Nations report found that the Syrian government and some armed opposition groups have employed siege tactics to punish civilians, and blamed the Security Council for allowing such war crimes to continue (al-Jazeera).
The report also said that chemical weapons used in two incidents last year appear to have come from the Syrian military. Meanwhile, a string of bombings in Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon have increased the costs of the Iran-backed militant group’s participation in Syria’s civil war (Bloomberg).