Kazakhstan Mulls Helping Eliminate Syrian Chemical Arsenal

MOSCOW, November 28 (RIA Novosti) – The government of Kazakhstan considers joining the international effort to eliminate chemical weapons in war-torn Syria, a senior Kazakh diplomat said Thursday.

“We are now considering the possibility of taking part in this process,” said Anuar Tanalinov, deputy head of international collaboration at the Kazakh Foreign Ministry.

Under a deal brokered by Russia and the United States, Syria has agreed in September to destroy its chemical weapons by mid-2014 and has revealed 23 chemical weapons sites on its territory.

Syria is amid an almost three-year civil war that has left more than 100,000 people dead and displaced about 9 million, according to estimates by the United Nations.

The agreement to eradicate its chemical weapons allowed the Syrian government to stave off a threatened US air strike.

Elimination of Chemical Weapons in the World

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The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which is overseeing the elimination of Syria’s chemical arsenal, earlier this month backed a proposal by Damascus for the arms to be destroyed outside Syria.

No country has so far agreed to use facilities on its own territory to dispose of Syria’s deadliest chemical weapons.