Türkiye has joined a task force established to support efforts in Syria to eliminate chemical weapons remnants inherited from the ousted Bashar al-Assad regime, responding to an invitation from the Syrian government.
According to Turkish Foreign Ministry sources, a decision was adopted on Oct. 10, 2025, at the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to support Syria in the accelerated on-site destruction of remaining chemical weapons remnants.
While the Chemical Weapons Convention places the responsibility for destroying such weapons on individual states, due to the ousted Assad regime’s covert conduct of its chemical weapons program, its refusal to cooperate with the OPCW, the unknown fate of records pertaining to the chemical weapons program from the former regime’s era and the lack of capacity for destruction, a process had been initiated to provide support to Syria from the international community.
In parallel with this process, the Syrian government established an international task force in cooperation with the OPCW to locate, verify, secure and destroy the remnants of the country’s chemical weapons program.
Through this mechanism, referred to by Syria as the “Breath of Freedom Task Force,” it is envisaged that technical, logistical and training support will be provided to the Syrian government in the face of these challenges and that the international community’s support for this purpose will be coordinated.
In addition to Türkiye and Syria, the task force members include Qatar, the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, Canada and the OPCW Technical Secretariat.
