The global chemical weapons watchdog is urgently seeking commercial firms to destroy toxins from Syria's poison gas arsenal, and trying to find a Mediterranean port where the deadliest chemicals can first be processed off-shore.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is racing to cobble together a "Plan B" to eradicate Syria's poison gas arsenal, after Albania abruptly backed out of an offer last week to host the destruction.
The OPCW is expected to ask companies formally on Thursday to bid for commercial contracts to treat around 800 tons of bulk industrial chemicals that are safe to destroy in commercial incinerators, a document reviewed by Reuters shows.
In addition, another 500 tons of chemicals, including actual nerve agents, are seen as too dangerous to import into a country or process commercially, and so would first be treated off shore on a U.S. ship. That process would itself yield large volumes of toxic waste that must then be disposed of.
The OPCW would need to find a port in the area where it can oversee the offshore work and then ship out the waste products.
The Hague-based OPCW, which won the Nobel Peace Prize last month, has been given the task of destroying Syria's chemical weapons stocks under an agreement brokered by the United States and Russia which averted U.S. missile strikes.
Washington had threatened to attack Syria to punish it for a sarin gas attack on a Damascus suburb which killed hundreds of people in August, but withdrew the threat after President Bashar al-Assad agreed to give up his chemical arsenal.
The global chemical weapons watchdog expects to spend up to 45 million euros on commercial waste treatment as part of the destruction of Syria's toxic arsenal, sources involved in the discussions told Reuters. Companies have until Nov. 29 to express their interest, the document reviewed by Reuters said.
Discussions are ongoing and the sources said no decision yet had been taken.
Russia’s Puttin:
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday Western states must convince the Syrian opposition to attend proposed talks with President Bashar Al-Assad's government in Geneva and expressed hope the conference would take place "as soon as possible".
"Russia took on the responsibility of convincing the Syrian leadership. We did our part. It is up to our partners, who must convince the opposition to do the same," Putin said at a joint news conference after talks with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.
New Islamic Front:
The six largest Islamist rebel factions in Syria declared a new Islamic Front on Thursday, forming the largest alliance of opposition fighters yet in the 2-1/2-year conflict.
Syria's fractious rebel forces have tried many times to unify their ranks and failed. Islamist rebel commanders, in a video aired on al Jazeera, said their new union would not only seek to oust President Bashar al-Assad but establish an Islamic state.
"This independent political, military and social formation aims to topple the Assad regime completely and build an Islamic state where the sovereignty of God almighty alone will be our reference and ruler," said Ahmed Eissa, who heads the Suqour al-Sham brigades.
The merger undermines the secular Free Syrian Army (FSA) leadership, once seen as a symbolic umbrella leadership for all the rebels but weakened by infighting and defections.
It could also challenge the ascendance of al Qaeda-linked factions who have grown increasingly powerful as other rebel groups are weakened.
Among the main groups that joined the front are powerful, countrywide forces such as Ahrar al-Sham, Suqour al-Sham and Islamic Army. The Tawhid Brigade, which spearheaded the August 2012 offensive that saw rebels take large swathes of the city of Aleppo and other parts northern Syria, was another leading member. The groups are not seen as being as hardline as the Qaeda-linked rebels.
On the field:
A fierce battle for control of a Syrian military base near a northern, opposition-held city has killed 24 rebels so far but the government troops have managed to hold on to the complex, activists said Friday.
Opposition fighters battling to topple President Bashar Assad's government launched an assault on the base northeast of the city of Raqqa on Wednesday, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Sporadic clashes were still underway Friday for the facility, known as Base 17 because it houses the Syrian army's 17th Brigade, said the Observatory's chief, Rami Abdurrahman.
Also Friday, government troops shelled the village of Bebela, killing five people, including a child, the Observatory said. The village lies along the region's main north-south highway, between two towns where intense clashes were also underway.
In a bid to secure the highway and cut rebel supply lines, Assad's forces pressed ahead with their week-long offensive in the Qalamoun hills.
Rebel forces in the area are led by fighters from two al-Qaeda-linked groups, Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, the Observatory said.
In the central city of Homs, Syria's third-largest, rebels fired mortar rounds at government positions but hit a central hotel, killing one man and wounding six on Friday, the state SANA news agency said.
Thursday, activists said that an al Qaeda affiliate has captured a northern Syrian town on the border with Turkey after ousting a moderate Islamist rebel unit and detained its leader.
The fall of the town of Atma, which is a crossing point for weapons and for Syrian rebels, signals disarray among some of the rebel groups which are ceding ground to hardline Islamist units.
Syria's conflict, now well in its third year, has killed 120,000 people. The crisis started as a peaceful uprising against Assad but deteriorated into all-out civil war after a brutal government crackdown on dissent.
REUTERS/AP
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