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Is Now the Moment to Rid Syria of Its Chemical Weapons?
Khaled Brigade, a part of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), hold a military parade, after Syria’s Bashar al-Assad was ousted, in Damascus, Syria, Dec. 27, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
The matter of Syria’s chemical and biological weapons (CBW) program has long lingered. It was initiated in the 1970s by President Hafez al-Assad and steadily increased over time. The issue has reemerged multiple times: in efforts to reach an agreement to eliminate Syria’s under-declared CW arsenal (2013); in the Syrian military’s subsequent recurrent employment of CW against the rebels during the civil war; in the reestablishment of a Syrian CW alignment within certain installations; and in the US-UK-France raid on Syrian CW facilities (2018). The issue recently surfaced once again, amid the collapse of the Assad regime. Various CW facilities became uncontrolled, some of which were destroyed by Israel.
Apparently, all the sides involved – the rising new Syrian regime, NATO, Russia and Israel – are willing to eliminate Syria’s CW alignment. Radical rebel groups might be keen to capture residual Syrian CW (the extent and deployment of which are not clear), along with the associated expert personnel. Russia and Iran might rush to get rid of any traces of their assistance to the Syrian CW program, in terms of both classified technical knowhow and CW Convention violations. Related North Korean and Chinese rudimentary (yet curious) contributions might also be traceable. In addition, profound inquiry could finally reveal whether concealed CBW possessed by Saddam Hussein’s regime was smuggled into Syria 20 years ago. At any rate, the complete disarmament of Syria’s CW would reduce the number of Muslim states possessing CW to three – Iran, Pakistan and Egypt – thereby diminishing the menace of CW use in the Middle East.
Originally, the overall Syrian CW alignment consisted of about 35 facilities in roughly 11 sites. However, it underwent many revisions, and its dimensions are now fairly obscure. The best way to attain a complete picture of the entire alignment (or what remains of it) might be to interrogate pertinent high-ranking Syrian (or Iranian in Syria) military and MoD figures and to locate genuine Syrian classified software and documents.
Basically, the components comprising the Syrian CW alignment include stocks of raw materials, final precursors of the binary nerve agents sarin and VX, sulfur mustard, chlorine, possibly some incapacitants, mechanical parts of the binary systems, and adjusted warheads. Selective bombardment of certain of these components would not cause environmental pollution but would prevent operability. In terms of installations, the alignment consists of development, production and storage facilities. Some of those facilities were attacked by the IDF “in order that they will not fall into the hands of extremists” (including Hezbollah, presumably), as noted by Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Since 2014, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has raised 26 questions over potential stockpiles with the Syrian authorities, but only seven have been resolved. “It is up to the international community to seize this opportunity … to eradicate this criminal program once and for all,” Fernando Arias, director general of the OPCW, said on December 12, 2024, at an emergency meeting of the implementing body for the international CW Convention.
Upon taking control of Syria, the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group pledged its “readiness to cooperate with the international community in everything related to monitoring weapons and sensitive areas”. The group also indicated that it would safeguard the country’s remaining CW stockpiles and ensure that they are not used against citizens. Further, one of the Syrian opposition leaders stressed that the opposition is committed to fully implementing CW disarmament in Syria.
Upon the collapse of the Assad regime, a senior Biden administration official said: “We are doing everything we can to prudently ensure that those (CW) materials are either not available to anyone or are cared for.” He further indicated that the Biden administration isn’t planning to send US troops into Syria to secure or destroy CW. Beyond that, he said that Washington will act at all costs to prevent any attempt by Syria or Iran to develop nuclear weapons. That last sentence is notable, as it pertains to the sphere of WMD at large rather than solely with regard to Iran. Also of note, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had intended to collect fresh environmental samples from suspected nuclear-related sites in Syria, but the collapse of the Assad regime disrupted this important monitoring.
As regards Iran, its military nuclear program is certainly in progress. Recently, then-IAEA head Rafael Grossi said that “Iran [has] developed much stronger capabilities… and is practically at the same level as nuclear-armed states.” Alongside that assessment, a report by the Office of the US Director of National Intelligence maintained that “Iran now has enough fissile material to make more than a dozen nuclear weapons.”
At any rate, the unequivocal statement by the above senior Biden administration official in reference to removing the nuclear WMD dimension echoes a previous statement (December 2021) by David Barnea, Head of the Mossad: “Iran will not have nuclear weapons, not in the coming years, and it never will. This is my commitment, and this is the commitment of the Mossad.”
Also worthy of mention is the possession of operational CW and BW arsenals by Iran, albeit a state party to the international CW and BW conventions. Iran is increasingly active in the area of weaponizing pharmacologically derived substances, both chemical and biological.
The third dimension of WMD – biological weapons – surfaced in the Syrian context in a press statement by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (December 10): “The United States reaffirms its full support for a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political transition…. The transition process and new government must also…. ensure that any chemical or biological weapons stockpiles are secured and safely destroyed.” The Assad regime had an active BW program that was divided in two: the development of toxins (such as botulinum, ricin and cobra toxins) by the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center, and the development of pathogens (such as anthrax and Brucella) by that center plus the Atomic Energy Commission of Syria. Thus, the Syrian BW program constitutes a serious issue of its own. This is particularly true as Syria is not a state party to the international BW Convention.
Tight and meticulous cooperation and collaboration ought to be potentiated between the new Syrian regime and the international community for the purpose of dealing appropriately with all the above-detailed challenges in Syria, apart from those no less meaningful ones that concern Iran.
Dr. Dany Shoham is a former senior analyst in IDF military intelligence and the Ministry of Defense. He specializes in chemical and biological warfare in the Middle East and worldwide. A version of this article was originally published by The BESA Center.
The post Is Now the Moment to Rid Syria of Its Chemical Weapons? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Why Do Western Countries Treat Qatar Better Than Their Jewish Citizens?
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani attends an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
Growing up in communist Prague, I was exposed to antisemitism expressed largely by government officials and communist outlets, rather than by citizens themselves.
I learned in school about three major enemies of the socialist republic of Czechoslovakia: Germans seeking to conquer back the Sudetenland, American imperialists, and, you might have guessed, Zionists. And I was one of them.
The propaganda during the Six-Day War was unrelenting and hostile to Israel. Some years later, during my studies in medical school, I was invited to continue as a graduate student at the genetics institute after obtaining my MD degree. However, a year or so later, I was disinvited because I was Jewish.
Surprisingly, the old Jewish quarter in Prague was relatively well maintained — it was a big tourist attraction, especially for Germans, and a good source of Western currency for the state. There was also a permanent exhibit of art by Jewish children imprisoned in Theresienstadt during World War II. And we did read Anne’s Frank diary. Prague was still much better than the Soviet Union and Romania.
At that time, Western Europe, the US, and Canada were the beacons of freedom for everybody, including Jews. A few decades later, it appears to me that the sides have switched.
Central and Eastern Europe (not counting Russia) have become more hospitable to Jews, and Western Europe and Canada are outright hostile. The situation in the US is somewhat mixed. What happened?
Most Western officials and leaders blame Israel for the war in Gaza, and they accuse Israel of genocide, intentional famine, and starvation of Gazans. Hamas has become — or at least is becoming — a beacon of freedom, especially among younger generations. In the meantime, the EU, UK, and Canada are threatening Israel with sanctions and recognizing a State of Palestine, which is basically a reward for Oct. 7.
Affairs have further deteriorated after Israel’s bombing of a meeting of Hamas leaders in Doha last week. Everybody runs to the defense of Qatar — after all, Qatar is considered an “honest” mediator between Israel and Hamas. This is the same Qatar that is the instigator of anti-Zionism and antisemitism by infiltrating Western institutions, particularly universities and subverting the education of Western values into support for radicalism, and is also the host of Hamas leaders and financiers, including those who planned the October 7 massacre.
Do Western countries really believe that Qatar, led by an emir with three wives, with a track record of slave working conditions of its foreign workers and with funding of Hamas terrorists, deserves support?
Furthermore, the hate in Western Europe is not being directed just at Israelis (which is still wrong, since Israel is not a monolith) — but against all Jews.
Jews, and particularly Israeli Jews, are disinvited from conferences, art performances, collaborations with their colleagues, sports events, and more. They are dehumanized and physically attacked on the streets of Western cities. The Spanish Prime Minister has been attempting to throw out Israeli athletes from several competitions because they were attacked by pro-Palestinian demonstrators rather than preventing demonstrators from attacking Israelis.
What is going to happen to Jews living in the West? Will they really be protected? Overall, Western governments appear to be willing to throw their Jewish citizens under the bus. Why is that? Do they really trust Qatar as an honest mediator, and even more as the most important non-NATO ally? Do they pretend they’ve never heard about Qatar’s subversive role in Western countries and support of the Muslim Brotherhood? Are they afraid of their increasing Muslim populations due to immigration and high birth rates in their own countries? Don’t they realize that they are falling into a moral morass at an accelerating rate?
It is unclear how long Western outrage at Israel will last. Is it going to be short-lived, like when Israel bombed Iraq’s nuclear reactor in 1981? Or will the West try to humiliate Israel and force (or at least attempt to do so) a solution to the war that leaves Hamas in power and isolates Israel internationally? One can only hope that the West, led by the US, will make the right decision not only for Israel, but for all democratic countries.
Dr. Jaroslava Halper has been a professor of pathology at The University of Georgia in Athens, GA for many years. She escaped from communist Prague because of antisemitism, and lack of freedom and free speech. The gradual increase of antisemitism and anti-Zionism in certain circles in her second homeland, and the devastating October 7 massacre by Hamas, led her to realize that more active engagement is necessary to combat antisemitism, including anti-Zionism.
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Palestinian Authority: Marco Rubio’s ‘Invasion’ of the Western Wall Is a Crime Against Islam
Benjamin Netanyahou and Marco Rubio. Photo: David Azagury, US Embassy Jerusalem
On Sunday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Ambassador Mike Huckabee visited the Western Wall of the Temple Mount, together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) was incensed by this visit, and publicized a long condemnation by the PA Jerusalem Governorate against what they called a “crime” against Islamic holy places:
The participation in these invasions by high-ranking American officials in an official capacity constitutes unacceptable collusion with the occupation’s policy, and dangerous willful blindness to the daily crimes committed against the holy city, its residents, and its holy places.
When Jews and Christians pray at the Western Wall or on the Temple Mount, the PA condemns what they call “Talmudic ceremonies.” The visit “offends the feelings of our Palestinian people”:
The Jerusalem Governorate viewed the invasion of the occupation’s Prime Minister — Benjamin Netanyahu, American Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and American Senator [sic, Ambassador] Mike Huckabee into the Western Wall plaza, and the fact that they held Talmudic ceremonies at this purely Islamic site, as a provocative step that offends the feelings of our Palestinian people and constitutes a blatant violation of the historical and legal status quo in the occupied city of Jerusalem.
Even though Muslims built a mosque in Jerusalem on the site of the Temples specifically because it was a Jewish holy site, today the PA proclaims that the Western Wall is a solely Islamic site:
The governorate emphasized that the Western Wall is an inseparable part of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and that it is part of the Islamic Waqf lands under Palestinian sovereignty. It further stressed that there is no legitimacy for any Israeli or foreign presence within it, without the approval of the relevant Palestinian authorities.
The PA even threatened that this “escalation” would have “consequences”:
The governorate warned of this escalation’s consequences on the situation on the ground within the city. It emphasized that the Palestinian people would not agree to any harm to the Arab identity of Jerusalem or its Islamic and Christian holy places, and that they would resist all attempts to impose the occupation’s sovereignty over the land and the people. The governorate called on the international community… to curb the occupation’s violations and stop the American involvement in support for the Judaization projects of the occupied city.
[PA Jerusalem Governorate, Facebook, September 14, 2025]
The author is the Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.
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What Charlie Kirk Meant to Jewish Conservatives
Charlie Kirk speaking at the inauguration of Donald Trump in January 2025. Photo: Brian Snyder via Reuters Connect
The horrific assassination of activist Charlie Kirk has left Jewish conservatives asking who will weaken the anti-Jewish hostility brewing in some corners of the far right now that Kirk has left us.
The 31-year-old, a devout Christian and founder of the organization Turning Point USA (TPUSA), understood that a society that turns on its Jews is a society that is rotting at its core.
When it came to quieting the antisemitic energies of the far right, Kirk knew that the conspiratorial scapegoating was a symptom of a serious malady, aggravated by an anxious and unhappy generation living in a digital den within an increasingly secularized America.
Kirk said that rejecting antisemitism, which he called “demonic,” was directly tied to defending Western civilization and protecting America’s Judeo-Christian identity.
That’s sadly ironic, given that many far right conspiracists online have blamed the Jewish people or Israel for Kirk’s murder.
In what may have conveyed a warning to the crop of influencers seeking to manipulate the Kirk assassination to advance their anti-Jewish objectives, US President Donald Trump released an image on Friday, showing the US leader and Kirk embracing against a backdrop of a US and Israeli flag with the caption reading, “Everybody Loved Charlie!”
Kirk’s speaking engagements at college campuses across the country drew thousands of students, admirers, and protestors. The informal open-air events provided participants with a platform to ask the late conservative influencer his thoughts on a host of issues, with many questions focused on Israel, Gaza, and the Jews.
Always respectful, Kirk carefully articulated why antisemitism is anti-Americanism.
Whether coming from the progressive left or the far right, Kirk defended Israel through a strategic and historical lens, and rejected the slew of libelous accusations leveled against the Jewish State.
Most recently, the TPUSA President exposed liberal media outlets for their role in fomenting the lie that Israel was starving the citizens of Gaza.
I just debated at Cambridge and Oxford. At Cambridge, instead of focusing on their own decaying country, they are obsessed with Israel. The lack of moral clarity on this topic is chilling. I decided to put this bouncy Brit in his place.
Watch: pic.twitter.com/RRnLiXJE2X
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) May 21, 2025
He also inspired Jewish conservatives to confront toxic positions with serious rebuttals, rather than with reflexive smears, while affirming that the path to a healthier country required responding to unsavory ideas through thoughtful and critical reason.
Acknowledging that it’s “hunting season for Jews right now in this country and that is a sick thing,” Kirk recently instructed an Israeli student who was harassed on a US campus to get “tougher.”
Indeed, he encouraged Jews to fight hate not with grievance, but with grit.
Jewish victimhood may have worked as a convenient tool of the political left, but Kirk saw the necessity and beauty in Jewish strength.
He emboldened Jewish Americans to lean into faith, and showed us that religion is the moral and divine anchor in today’s complicated and liberalized world.
Kirk advocated for issues that were in American Jews’ best interest, even as many of our own leaders resisted departing from the liberal sensibilities that undermined Jewish safety, and refused to acknowledge the dangers embedded in liberal immigration regulations.
As mainstream Jewish groups ignored the challenges associated with the increasing number of Muslims with radical ideologies entering the US, Kirk was firm in his assertion that radicalized Islam was incompatible with Western civilizational values.
Kirk granted right-leaning American Jews the space and the courage to sharpen our arguments as to why adopting strict immigration provisions was sound policy. He also defended Israel his whole life, and was an astute observer of the cracks in the emerging debate among younger conservative cohorts as it relates to safeguarding the US-Israel bond.
Warning of an “earthquake coming on this issue”, Kirk convened a focus group over the summer featuring Gen Z conservatives to discuss America’s alliance with Israel.
It was a candid discussion, and the panel provided a blueprint for what constituted “persuadable” pro-Israel arguments, and why, according to the young TPUSA supporters, focusing on shared values, radical Islamist threats, and intelligence cooperation was more of a motivator for bolstering support for Israel than unveiling public campaigns that underscored the progressive policies undertaken by the Jewish State.
The horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk has left Jewish Americans with an intense sadness over losing a friend who was critical to sidelining the anti-Jewish rumblings occurring across the cultural and political landscape.
As an Evangelical Christian, Kirk also taught American Jewry the value of adhering to our Jewish inheritance. He delivered a roadmap for how strong Jews, who commit to channeling conservative ideals through robust debate, are crucial to preserving the Judeo-Christian character of our country and will organically yield a US-Israel alliance that will be a bulwark against the enemies of Western civilization.
Irit Tratt is a writer who resides in New York. Follow her on X @Irit_Tratt.