Delays in Chemical Disarmament Operations in Syria

     The United Nations security council has come to the agreement to confiscate the chemical weapons being held by the Syrian government while providing the population with much needed aid.  This has proven to be very difficult due to increased tension within the nation.  Due to rising hostility humanitarian groups have been denied access into the country leaving some two million people without aid.  The increased tension has also prevented the UN chemical disarmament team from proceeding with the disposal of what is predicted to be 1,000 tons of sarin and other chemical agents.  The UN chemical disarmament team is also aiming to shut down the country's chemical weapon production sites.  The security council is requesting that fighting within the nation comes to a pause in order to allow humanitarian groups to provide the population with aid and give the UN chemical disarmament team safe access to the chemical stockpile in order to complete their operation.
     If the Syrian government does not agree to temporarily stop fighting in the nation the UN chemical disarmament team cannot carry out their mission of removing the chemical weapons from Syria.  A large threat to national and international safety is the possible ongoing production of chemical weapons at the country's production sites.  The longer the UN is delayed in their operation, the longer the syrian government has to produce and possibly hide or distribute other amounts of chemical weapons.  This could have serious implications internationally if it falls into the wrong hands such as terrorist organization groups in neighboring countries.

Work Cited

Shamir, Shlomo. (2013). UN officials: Recent escalation in syrian civil war could delay work to disable      chemical weapons. The Jerusalem Post. http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/UN-officials-Recent-  escalation-in-Syrian-civil-war-could-delay-work-to-disable-chemical-weapons-327803.

Authors:
Kelsey
Luke
Hao
Angela
David
Wes
Jasmin